A lot of progress has now been made with this important directive, which will set in place how we deal with water quality and river flows for years to come. It has reached the stage where the main threats have been identified along with the organisations that will have to do something about them.
The Liaison Panel dealing with our branch area is the Severn River Basin one and they consider the most significant issues still needing attention are;
- Flow problems ---- abstraction, over widening of channels, weirs,artificial river regulation, excessive rainwater run-off.
- Alien species ---- threat to wildlife and flooding, Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, Floating pennywort, mink, signal crayfish, zebra mussels.
- Diffuse pollution ---- nitrates, pesticides, phosphorus, sediment, housing from urban areas and industry, combined sewers, sustainable urban drainage.
- Physical modification ---- for rivers, estuaries and coasts. Eg weirs, flood defences.
- Point source pollution ---- Nitrates, phosphorus, pesticides, sediment,intermittent discharges, pesticides not removed by sewage treatment, gardeners.
The Panel propose additional measures that could be put in place to tackle each threat- so, for example, under diffuse pollution from rural areas they list:
- Extension of catchment sensitive farming initiatives
- Increased enforcement of existing banned pesticides (including sheep dip)
- Improved information on the impact of septic tanks and rural sewerage.
- Regulatory controls on the use of inorganic fertilisers
For each issue they identify the sectors involved, including local authorities, the environment agency, business and industry, farmers, water companies and fishery interests. All will have a contribution to make to solving problems.