The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published its Annual Report for the year 2000-01. The Report includes reviews of SEPA's work over the past year in relation to water quality, waste management, air quality and monitoring major industrial plants, radioactive substances, contaminated land and Research & Development.

Amongst the environmental facts outlined in the Report are:

• the quality of rivers and coastal waters improved, but some estuaries suffered a short term deterioration because of low rainfall and summer temperatures
  
  
• sewage and agricultural run-off are the two major causes of water pollution in Scotland
  
  
• 405,500 tonnes of packaging waste were reprocessed in Scotland during the year
  
  
• SEPA controls pollution from around 2000 small industrial processes and some 200 larger industrial sites
  
  

In her introduction to the Report Chief Executive Tricia Henton outlines some of the major ongoing projects with which SEPA was involved during the year and which are contributing to sustainable development is Scotland. These include the development of local plans to support the National Waste Strategy - Scotland, the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, and the introduction of the Pollution Prevention & Control Regulations. She also describes the impact on SEPA's work of the Foot and Mouth crisis: "During the peak of the outbreak SEPA staff were continuously on call to provide environmental advice, and worked very hard to ensure that the necessary measures for dealing with the disease did not affect the environment excessively."

The SEPA Annual Report 2000-01 is available here.

ENDS