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The water environment and achieving the environmental improvements

This section summarises the condition of the water environment in the Forth advisory group area, the improvements we plan to achieve and the key pressures and impacts that we need to address.

The environmental quality and natural characteristics of surface waters and groundwater vary widely. To reflect this variation SEPA has divided the water environment into water bodies. Detailed information for individual water bodies is held in the interactive map on the SEPA website.

Information on the classification, objectives and measures for the Scotland river basin district, as well as detailed supplementary information on how we classify and how objectives have been set, can be found in the district plan.

The current condition of the water environment

The water environment includes all rivers, lochs, estuaries, coastal waters, artificial waters (such as canals and reservoirs) and groundwater. It also includes all the wetlands that depend on surface waters or groundwater for their water needs.

Classifying the condition of each water body over a certain size threshold - rivers with a catchment area of more than 10km² and lochs which have a surface area greater than 0.5km², and all estuaries and coastal water bodies regardless of size - provides a picture of where the water environment is in good condition and where improvements need to be made.

In general, the classification of surface water bodies describes by how much their condition (“status”) differs from near-natural conditions. Water bodies in a near-natural condition are at high ecological status while those whose ecological quality has been severely damaged are at bad ecological status. The overall status depends on the condition of the different elements of the classification (eg the plant community, fish populations, water quality etc).

SEPA has divided waters in the Forth advisory group area into 268 water bodies. Currently only 70 (26%) of these water bodies are at good or high ecological status and 198 (74%) are classified as being at moderate, poor or bad ecological status. A significant amount of work is therefore required to restore these water bodies to good ecological status (see Table 2 and Maps 2a and 2b below).

Of the surface water bodies in the Forth advisory group area, 43 (around 18%) have been substantially changed in character for important social and economic purposes such as flood protection, hydropower generation, navigation, land drainage or water storage for drinking water supply. These are known as heavily modified water bodies. A further 10 (around 4%) of surface water bodies are artificial, including the Forth and Clyde Canal, the Union Canal and Pond Lagoon (Culross). The classification of heavily modified and artificial water bodies describes their ecological potential. This is a measure of the extent to which the ecological quality of the water body has been maximised given the limits imposed by the physical and hydrological modifications necessary for its uses. For more information on heavily modified and artificial water bodies see Chapter 4 of the River basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district .

The classification of bodies of groundwater describes whether or not they are polluted and whether or not the volume of any water being abstracted from them is sustainable without significant impacts on rivers or wetlands that depend on that groundwater. Unlike the five status classes applying to surface waters, two classes are used to describe the status of groundwater: good and poor.

Map 2a: Current surface water classification for Forth advisory group area (click for larger image)

Map 2b: Current groundwater classification for Scotland river basin district (click for larger image)
 

Pressures and risks

A wide variety of pressures and impacts on the water environment have been identified within the Forth advisory group area, reflecting the mixture of urban and rural land use. The following key pressures are found within the Forth advisory group area.

Physical (morphological) changes to water bodies

A large number of water bodies have been physically altered from their natural state and there are often multiple physical pressures within each water body, particularly in our urban areas. Every water body in the Almond catchment has morphological pressures and it is a key issue within the Esk, Allan Water, Tyne, Water of Leith and Leven catchments.

Barriers to fish passage

Obstructions which prevent fish moving through a catchment affect a high proportion of water bodies within the Forth advisory group area. An impassable barrier low down in the catchment will cause a failure for each upstream water body within that catchment. This is currently an issue within the Tyne and Almond catchments.

Point source pollution from sewage disposal

This, and to a lesser extent diffuse source pollution from sewage disposal, is a significant pressure within the Forth area affecting the majority of catchments. It is a particular issue within the Avon, Almond, Esk and Tyne catchments.

Diffuse pollution from agriculture

Such pollution affects the majority of catchments, but is a particular issue in the Eye Water, Tyne, Leven, Stirling coastal, South Fife coastal and East Lothian coastal catchments.

Point and diffuse source pollution from mining and quarrying of coal and oil shale

This legacy impact from our industrial past is causing pressures in the Almond, Avon, Esk, Leven and South Fife coastal catchments and groundwaters of the Forth area.

Other pressures

Although not a key pressure throughout the Forth advisory group area, agricultural abstraction is causing a pressure within the East Lothian coastal and Tyne catchments, and in the River Leven catchment there are numerous abstraction pressures reflecting the diversity industries operating within this area.

Invasive non-native species

Our water environment is also at risk of deterioration due to the presence of invasive non-native species. In the Forth advisory group area, the Tiel Burn in the South Fife coastal catchment is at less than good ecological status due to an established population of the invasive non-native North American signal crayfish.

As further information is gathered on invasive non-native species within the Forth advisory group area it is likely that further pressures will be identified. Indeed we would expect more morphological pressures to be highlighted within the area once riparian invasive non native species such as Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam are included within the morphological classification.

The above list does not include all impacts and there are other issues that will also need to be addressed through river basin management planning. Appendix 1 provides an overview of the number of water bodies affected by the different pressures within each catchment. More detailed information on the pressures and impacts in each catchment, including the specific water bodies affected, measures and objectives, is included in the catchment profiles and in the water body information files, both available on SEPA’s website.

Objectives for the water environment

As the classification results and analysis of pressures show, the water environment in the Forth advisory group area is under significant pressure and there is a challenge to restore water bodies to good ecological status. However, it is important to remember that there have been significant improvements over the past 40 or so years, primarily to water quality. The task now is to build on that achievement. In the Forth area we aim to improve our water bodies so that by 2027 96% of them are at good or high ecological status. This will help to deliver the overall goal of the Scotland river basin district, which is for 97% of water bodies to be in good or better condition by 2027.

To achieve this, water bodies will be protected from deterioration and action will be taken to enhance and restore those which are below good ecological status. Restoring waters to good ecological status will take time, so improvements have been prioritised over the river basin planning cycles until 2027. For the small proportion of waters for which achieving good ecological status by 2027 is not feasible, all reasonably achievable improvements will be made. Comprehensive reviews of progress will be undertaken during each period and will be reported in updates of this plan

Table 3 shows how the water environment in the Forth area is projected to improve in the period to 2027 (illustrated in Maps 3a and 3b). This gradual improvement reflects the time needed to develop and implement the necessary technical solutions and to make the required investments and adjustments without creating disproportionate burdens. However, these are still ambitious objectives and only through working together can we deliver the required improvements.

Lower (less stringent) objectives than good status

For 11 water bodies in the Forth advisory group area, we believe that good ecological status cannot be achieved by 2027. For these water bodies, we have set a lower (less stringent) objective than good ecological status.

The Tiel Burn in the South Fife Coastal catchment is projected to be at moderate ecological status by 2027 due to difficulties in tackling the invasive North American signal crayfish population. There is currently no known means of eradicating this species from rivers.

In the River Forth catchment, the Duchray Water is likely to continue to suffer from acidification associated with forestry. The time needed for recovery is difficult to predict, but it is likely to be beyond 2027. Also within the River Forth catchment, Allt Gleann nam Meann and the Finglas Water^[2] will continue to be at poor ecological status because of a barrier to fish passage at the downstream Glen Finglas Reservoir. This barrier will not be addressed because the environmental benefits of installing fish passage are low compared with the costs involved.

In the River Esk catchment, the River South Esk (source to Gladhouse Reservoir) water body will continue to be classed at poor ecological status. This is because Gladhouse Reservoir is causing a barrier to fish passage and will not be addressed because the environmental benefits of installing fish passage are low compared with the costs involved.

Gartmorn Dam, a heavily modified water body in the Stirling coastal catchment, is projected to remain at poor ecological potential because of the ecological recovery time associated with impacts from diffuse phosphorous inputs.

Five groundwater bodies also have lower (less stringent) objectives. The water quality of the Dalkeith, Stirling and Falkirk, Alloa and South Fife bedrock and localised sand and gravel aquifers has been adversely affected by pollution arising from past coal mining activities. The water quality of the Edinburgh and Livingston bedrock and localised sand and gravel aquifers has been adversely affected by pollution arising from past oil-shale mining activities. The groundwater status recovery time within these five areas is currently projected to be beyond 2027.

Map 3a: Projected improvements in surface water status over the three cycles (click for larger image)

Map 3b: Projected improvements in groundwater quality over the three cycles (click for larger image)

Protected area objectives

Many water bodies are also part of water-dependant protected areas. As well as being required to meet good ecological status/potential, these water bodies must also achieve the objectives for which the protected area was established. Protected areas include waters that:

• support economically important shellfish;
  
• have been designated as bathing waters;
  
• provide water for human consumption;
  
• support species or habitats identified as requiring special protection under European legislation (Natura 2000 sites).

Many protected areas are already achieving the goals for which they were established. The objective for these areas is to protect them from deterioration. Further environmental improvements are needed for other areas that are currently not meeting their objectives. Information on the protected areas within the Forth advisory group area together with any planned improvements are summarised below.

Natura 2000 sites

There are five water-dependant Special Areas of Conservation within the Forth advisory group area:

• Berwickshire and North Northumberland Coast;
  
• Isle of May;
  
• River Teith;
  
• St Abb’s Head to Fast Castle;
  
• Kippenrait Glen.

Three of these are currently achieving their objectives and two, the Berwickshire and North Northumberland Coast and Kippenrait Glen, are currently failing to achieve their objectives - Berwickshire and North Northumberland Coast on account of diffuse pollution from agriculture and Kippenrait Glen due to the presence of rhododendron, an invasive non-native species, and the presence of other non-native tree species such as beech, sycamore and spruce. Both are forecast to be achieving their objectives by 2015.

There are six water-dependant Special Protection Areas within the Forth advisory group area which are all achieving their objectives:

• Loch Leven;
  
• Forth Islands;
  
• Gladhouse Reservoir;
  
• St Abbs Head to Fast Castle;
  
• South Tayside Goose Roosts;
  
• Firth of Forth.

Bathing waters

There are 26 bathing waters within the Forth advisory group area: five classified as poor; three as sufficient; six as good and 12 as excellent. The five currently classed as failing (ie less than sufficient) are Kinghorn (Harbour Beach); Portobello (Central); Portobello (West); Eyemouth; and Kirkcaldy (Seafield).

Under the revised Bathing Waters Directive the aim is to ensure that all designated bathing waters are classified as ‘sufficient’ by 2015. Bathing waters also have an overall aim to increase the proportion attaining a good or excellent classification rather than sufficient.

Shellfish waters

There is only one area designated under the Shellfish Waters Directive within the Forth advisory group area: Fife Ness to Elie. This area achieved the mandatory values set out in the Shellfish Waters Directive as all the water quality conditions required to support shellfish life and growth are being achieved. However, like many other areas in Scotland, this area failed to achieve the Shellfish Waters Directive’s more stringent guide value for faecal coliforms in 2008. Our objective is to achieve the guide value in this area by 2027.

Drinking water protected areas

There are 60 drinking water protected areas in the Forth advisory group area. One, the Loch Leven bedrock and extensive sand and gravel aquifers, is at risk of deterioration due to nitrate inputs from arable farming. This area is within an area designated as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone under the Nitrates Directive and action programmes have been established with the aim of restoring the quality of water in this Drinking Water Protected Area so that abstraction for human consumption can be resumed. This action is expected to take some time to be effective because of the lag time for groundwater recovery.

Drinking Water Protected Areas are currently under review and any changes to designations will be reflected in updates of this plan.

Nutrient sensitive areas: nitrate vulnerable zones

Two nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) are either within or partially within the Forth advisory group area:

• Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Borders NVZ;
  
• Strathmore and Fife NVZ.

Action programmes for these NVZs have been established. The programmes aim to reduce water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and to prevent further such pollution. The action programme will be reviewed and, where necessary, revised every four years based on assessment of its effectiveness.

Nutrient sensitive areas: Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) sensitive areas

There are 25 Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive sensitive areas within the Forth advisory group area. These are not assessed against an environmental standard. Instead, compliance is measured in terms of measures taken, such as improvements to sewage treatment works. All relevant wastewater treatment plants in the Scotland river basin district have tertiary treatment and so no further action is required at these.

Freshwater fish

There are 16 protected areas for economically important freshwater fish, 14 for salmonids[3] and 2 for cyprinids[4] (the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals). All areas are currently achieving the mandatory standards required by the Freshwater Fish Directive.

1. Bodies of groundwater are classed at either good status or poor status.
   
2. The water body information sheet for the Finglas Water, which can be found on the SEPA website, currently states that it will reach good status by 2015. This is an error which will be amended when the water body information sheets are updated.