The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will today launch its new report, "Improving Scotland’s Water Environment" at The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Sarah Boyack, MSP Minister for Transport & the Environment will give the keynote speech. This is the first time such an in-depth report has been compiled on the state of Scotland’s water environment. While the report shows that Scottish water quality is improving, it also shows that a lot of work still has to be done. The report gives details of the problems faced and the solutions needed to make the quality of Scottish water better.

The report has three main sections:

• State of Scotland’s water environment: including information on water quality in rivers, lochs, estuaries and coastal waters. There are 400km of polluted rivers, 30 polluted lochs, 30km ² of polluted estuaries and 360km of polluted coastal waters.
• Causes of pollution and pressures on the water environment: details the factors which have had negative impacts on the water environment. Sewage effluent and agricultural pollution are the main causes of pollution
• Targets for improving the water environment: SEPA intends to direct its resources towards improving the most polluted waters in Scotland by 15-20%. This is the first time such wide ranging and ambitious targets have been set for water quality in the UK.

However, the report identifies many issues which will constrain the rate at which improvements can be achieved. It details SEPA’s concerns over progress in controlling pollution from sewage effluent, diffuse agricultural sources, urban drainage and abandoned mines.

SEPA’s Director of Environmental Strategy, Tricia Henton comments:
"Although great progress has been made since the days when many of Scotland’s waters were grossly polluted, there still remains a lot to be done to bring the water environment up to the standards which people have a right to expect.

"We intend to achieve major improvements in Scotland’s water environment and these are detailed in this report. These improvements will be measured against the extent of pollution in Scotland in 1996 when SEPA was established."