River Habitat Quality Report
Issued on 8 June 1998 - Ref 24/98

Scotland’s rivers are mostly unpolluted - 92% were classified as good or very good condition by SEPA in 1996. Clean river water is very important for Scotland’s industries, such as distilleries and for tourism and recreation. However, if the river has been straightened into a canal-like drainage channel or heavily dredged to deepen its channel, good water quality will not allow good fishing or protect the wildlife of rivers. It is important, therefore, to protect river beds and banks, as well as the quality of the water, if we want to ensure that Scotland keeps its high quality river environments.

There is a wide range of threats to river habitats in Scotland: flood control, land drainage work, erosion control, culverting, straightening field boundaries, ploughing and spraying river banks and heavy grazing by cattle and sheep. It is nearly always possible to carry out essential river engineering such as flood protection in a manner that does not destroy the value of the river habitat. However, in Scotland, there are only very limited powers available which may incidentally be used to protect rivers by ensuring that best practice is followed.

SEPA, the Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service and the Environment Agency in England Wales recognise that the quality of a river’s habitat is an important measure of environmental quality. These organisations have been working towards developing a means of describing the amount of damage caused to river beds and banks. This is part of a movement to take a wider view of the water environment, not based just on water quality, but on the total habitat depending on the water, such as river banks and floodplain wetlands. This will become increasingly important throughout Europe once the proposed Water Framework Directive becomes law. This European Directive which is being actively promoted under the UK Presidency will require the protection of the river habitat as well as the chemical quality of water.

The River Habitat Quality Report is the first of its kind to classify the physical character of rivers and streams in the UK and the Isle of Man. It is based upon data collected using a survey technique known as River Habitat Survey (RHS). The physical integrity of a river is an important component of its overall quality. Even a clean river will not achieve its full potential as a habitat for wildlife if its physical structure has been damaged. In fact, many kinds of physical degradation in river habitats, such as increased bankside erosion as a result of heavy grazing or overdeepening of the channel, may even lead indirectly to a reduction in the chemical and biological quality of the river, e.g. through siltation of river bed gravels.

‘In Scotland, 769 rivers and burns (181 Upland and 588 Lowland) were randomly selected and surveyed between 1995-96 using a detailed classification system called River Habitat Survey (RHS) which takes into account important features of rivers such as the size and shape of the valley, channel features such as boulders and shingle bars, trees, invasive alien bankside plants and land use and physical modifications to habitats as a result of human activity’, said Ian Fozzard, a Regional Ecologist and RHS Co-ordinator with SEPA. ‘The survey provides a standard method and a powerful new tool for helping to describe and assess the physical character of rivers and modifications affecting them. For example, about 70% of upland and 28% of lowland rivers surveyed in Scotland were found to have a "semi-natural", which means there was a relatively low impact of modification due to human activities. Some 11% of upland rivers and 30% of lowland rivers were found to be obviously or significantly modified by human activities. The database of RHS reference sites represents a unique source of baseline information such as this, which can be analysed and presented at individual site level or collectively at catchment, regional or national level’.

The River Habitat Quality Report helps to inform a more sustainable and holistic approach to looking at river catchment areas. The Report takes into account the natural heritage of rivers, the physical effects of flood defences, drainage and river engineering, and the spread of invasive non-native plant species such as giant hogweed. It provides the public with a guide to the damage that has been done to our rivers, for example, by straightening river banks to cut out meanders and by ploughing right up to the river bank. The UK River Habitat Quality Report can help to provide a sound basis for setting and monitoring environmental targets to maintain, improve and report on river quality as a whole. This can be used to guide land and river management policies as well as helping to target action and measure performance of key river habitats, a Government objective under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

SEPA now has a tool to describe the condition of river habitats to the people of Scotland. It will be able to monitor whether river habitat quality deteriorates or improves as a consequence of river engineering or farming practice.

ENDS

SEPA Press Office contacts

Press Officer: Maggie Hamilton. Tel: 01786 457724 Mobile 0370 686073
Head of Public Affairs: Monica Straughan. Tel: 01786 457723 Mobile 0421 942498

SEPA Head Office, Erskine Court, The Castle Business Park, STIRLING FK9 4TR
Tel: 01786 457700 Fax: 01786 448040

Contact SEPA Public Affairs at publicrelations@sepa.org.uk

© SEPA 1998