Pressures and Impacts on Scotland's Water Environment

This report presents the most detailed description of the pressures and impacts on the Scottish water environment produced to date. The Water Framework Directive requires a much wider range of pressures to be addressed, rather than focusing on pollution alone. Pressures such as water abstractions, impoundments, engineering and land use have been examined and the resulting impacts assessed. This will allow Scotland to take a more holistic and integrated approach to water management in the future.

This assessment is only the first step in the overall process of improving our aquatic environment through the river basin management planning process. Further work now needs to be carried out and tasks include:

• Design of monitoring network by 2006 taking into account the wider range of pressures that need to be considered. The results from this pressure and impact assessment will be used to define the network. A Scottish Water Environment Monitoring Strategy is currently being taken forward by SEPA in partnership with other organisations.
  
• Review of water bodies probably at risk of failing the environmental objectives prior to 2007 (reporting category of 1b). This will be done using any additional information that becomes available such as new environmental monitoring data, information from new licence applications or modelling results.
  
• Preparation of data presentation for use in the river basin management planning process. SEPA is proposing to form a network of Area Advisory Groups to support RBMP production. Pressure and impact information will be used by these groups to establish a programme of measures.
  

The river basin management planning process is an iterative one. Information will continually be improved making the next cycle of characterisation easier and more robust than this first assessment. This iterative process will improve our water environment even further while still allowing for all water uses such as energy production, transport, agriculture and tourism.

Responding to this consultation

The question raised in this consultation appears at the beginning of Section 5. We welcome your views on this consultation by the closing date of 23 September 2004.

You can respond:
In writing to: now closed

By email to: now closed

Next steps

Responses will be considered in preparation of the final environmental characterisation reports to be completed by December 2004. SEPA will make the replies it receives available to the public and publish a digest of responses on its website. If you wish your response to remain anonymous or not be attributable in the digest please advise us of this. We will comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and use the information you provide only for this consultation. It will not be used, retained or distributed for any other purpose.