Water Framework Directive Prevent deterioration in any water body - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Water Framework Directive • Prevent deterioration in any water body • Aim to achieve Good Ecological Status (GES) in all water bodies by 2015 • we are currently only at 23% GES in water bodies in England and Wales

Action to date to tackle point source/diffuse pollution in urban/agri • [point source progress] • [non agri diffuse] • Agri diffuse – ECSFDI and agri environment schemes

WPZs • WPZs to address water pollution and hydromorphological damage that leads to the failure of WFD objectives where we can show that existing reg and vol/supportive measures are or will be insufficient to achieve desired outcomes [nb ‘or will be’ goes further than condoc language]

WPZs continued • WPZs can be used to control activities that can cause water pollution within a particular area. They can be applied over any spatial scale and target almost any pollutant and polluting activity across any business sector • We are working very closely with the EA, the competent authority for proposing WPZs and enforcing their requirements. The Environment Agency will identify the need for a WPZ, the pollutants to be controlled, the activities to be prohibited or managed and the method of enforcing the requirements within that zone.

Timeline • Summary of responses published – June 2009 Broad support for WPZs, but a number of outstanding concerns/issues that Defra will take forward in working with stakeholders • SI comes into force Oct 2009 • Aiming for Stat Guidance by Oct 2009

Response to some of the headline consultation messages • Stat Guidance will cover diffuse and point source pollution from agri and urban sources • Specific WPZs will not be included in first round RBMPs • Appeals – a lot of support, Defra still considering • Defra will produce an IA for the SI • We do see SSSIs as a priority • EA resourcing

Response to some of the headline consultation messages continued

Stakeholder engagement • There are many outstanding issues we need to work through before finalising Stat Guidance • We feel a small focused stakeholder group would work best but we will return to this