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1.4 Water usage
Water is used for a wide range of purposes in the Solway Tweed RBD. This is demonstrated in Section 3 which shows the scale of water use in Solway Tweed by key sectors and describes the value of their water use. This information is based upon a research and development (R&D) project and is linked to data from the parallel environmental pressures and impacts assessment process2 undertaken and finalised by SEPA and others during 20043.
Information about the recovery of costs for water use in Solway Tweed is described in Section 4. This information allows a consideration of the level of cost recovery by private water companies in Solway Tweed. In setting environmental objectives we have to consider who will pay and how much it will cost. This will include a consideration and balance of which is more beneficial to both economy and environment; prevention or remediation.
In order to understand how water use will change over time we have commissioned research that suggests the most likely development of the economy and how this activity will impact on water use from the present to 2015. Information on the projected changes in water use can be found in Section 5 and on the SEPA website4. This information will be used to inform decision-makers about what economic activity is likely to create increasing pressures and how these pressures are expected to change over time. Importantly, further local knowledge will also be added to these predictions to inform local decision-making.
It will form a component to derive the most appropriate and cost-effective remediation necessary to achieve our objectives for Solway Tweed water environment. There will be many ways of ensuring that good status is achieved and economic information will provide the evidence to inform the decision-making process. By understanding the links between different measures and how efficient they are it will be possible to rank them and this will enable us to make informed choices.
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