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OEP Report Finds Key Water Quality Improvement Targets Will Be Missed
A new report from industry watchdog the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP)has found that key targets for improving water quality in rivers, lakes and coastal waters will be missed because of failures to implement Water Framework Directive regulations appropriately.
The government’s publicised environmental objectives, included in the regulations, are that 77 per cent of waterways around the country will have good ecological status or potential come the year 2027, but this latest study has found that it is not currently on track to meet these targets.
In a worst case scenario projected by the OEP, just 21 per cent of surface waters will be classified as being in a good ecological state by 2027, which is just a five per cent hike on the current figure.
All inland surface waters are covered by the regulations, including groundwaters, estuaries, lagoons, coastal waters, rivers and lakes.
But effective implementation of these regulations is being prevented by serious barriers such as insufficient investment, inadequate water management and governance, generic improvement plans that aren’t location-specific and a lack of certainty, pace and deadlines to see these measures through to fruition.
A series of recommendations have now been made by the OEP to Defra and the Environment Agency to help move forward with improving and protecting the natural water environment.
For example, the OEP is keen to see the Environment Agency update its assessments of the risks posed to waterways by human activity, including climate change and commercial, domestic and infrastructural development.
It’s also calling on Defra to develop and enforce a coherent and nested monitoring and evaluation framework for the water environment, including a clear relationship between monitoring for individual waterways and monitoring/evaluation of water-related goals and targets of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.
And the watchdog also wants to see Defra determine how best to go about monitoring and regulating new and emerging chemicals, establishing effective processes to replace the EU watch list mechanism, as well as for setting environmental standards.
Chair of the OEP dame Glenys Stacey observed that, although the relevant legislation is broadly sound, the problem is that it’s not being implemented well enough and, as such, it’s not delivering in the way that it should, which means that the majority of the nation’s open waterways will continue to remain in a poor state for some time to come unless meaningful change is enacted.
“There is a significant need to strengthen how environmental law on water is applied to make sure it is working effectively and is making the important contribution that it needs to to achieving the government’s wider goals and targets.
“There is a particularly urgent need for additional measures to be in place and for measures to be targeted at a local level, if there is to be any hope of achieving the 2027 targets. The government must speed up and scale up its efforts to protect and improve our waters,” she went on to say.
What is the Water Framework Directive?
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to reduce and remove pollution from waterways, ensuring that there is sufficient water to support both human and wildlife needs simultaneously.
It has served as the main law for Europe’s water protection since the year 2000, applying to groundwaters, inland, coastal and transitional surface waters, prioritising an integrated approach to water management, respecting whole ecosystem integrity, regulating pollutants and setting regulatory standards in place.
The key tools for implementation of the WFD are river basin management plans, which are produced following extensive public consultation and remain valid for six years.
In England, these plans are now helping the government achieve its ambitions for the water environment in its 25 Year Environment Plan, where the aim is to bring 75 per cent of waters as close as possible to their natural state, a target that is being put under increasing pressure thanks to climate change and population growth.
Over the six-year cycle of river basin planning, it is necessary to identify the objectives for waterways, including the pressures and risks facing different regions, in order to ascertain the appropriate measures to meet objectives.
The overall purpose of these plans is that they come together to form a coherent picture that can be understood at catchment, river basin district and regional level, recognising how objectives for water resources overlap with other environmental concerns of water-dependent areas, including the likes of river headwaters and priority habitats.
The 25 Year Environment plan’s ultimate goal is to restore nature’s true balance, restoring rivers to a condition not seen since before the industrial revolution.
This will require both innovation and a serious step change, but the case is strong for both the environment and human civilisation alike.
By protecting nature, we’re not only protecting biodiversity and natural ecosystems but also enhancing human health and wellbeing, as well as securing economic growth and jobs. But, as the OEP report shows, there is still a significant amount of work that yet needs to be done.