Scotland's Water Environment Review 2000-2006
Scotland's Water Environment Review focuses on the chemical and
biological quality of our water environment:
The report is, on balance, a ‘good news’ story, but inevitably
with some caveats. It shows what has been achieved. Past
legislation concentrated on water quality and flood defence rather
than physical habitat, so improvements relate to water quality. As
illustrated in the forward looking Significant Water Management
Issues (SWMI) reports produced recently by SEPA, other things –
working with others, engineering and abstraction pressures – are at
least as important in determining the overall quality of our
aquatic environments.
Good, clean water flowing in a stream
piped in a culvert flowing underneath a development has no real
environmental value. Open that stream out, with green areas
alongside to constrain floods, and it can become a refuge for
wildlife and a recreational resource.
The work and improvements outlined in
this report are the culmination of a lot of effort made by many
people and organisations, and to which we have all contributed
through water charges. The success of the new River Basin
Management Planning system, which SEPA and the Scottish Government
have put in place as part of the EU Water Framework Directive
implementation, will be crucial to maintaining and enhancing
Scotland’s water environment.