Actions planned to achieve our objectives

Orkney and Shetland have a successful track record of protecting and improving the water environment through planned programmes to manage and reduce pressures. Until recently this work has been largely focused on tackling polluting discharges.

River basin management planning requires us to establish a programme of measures to prevent deterioration in all water bodies, and improve water bodies that are below good ecological status. The programme for Scotland includes the latest investment planning work for Scottish Water, work with landowners to reduce pollution and ways to tackle pressures from drinking water supply, hydropower generation and flood protection.

The measures in the Scotland river basin management plan automatically feed into this area management plan, and the action plan which accompanies this document also contains information on a range of measures which will be delivered by local partners. Some of these measures will contribute to water body status in an indirect way, through awareness raising and education, while others involve long-term projects and multiple partners.

The Orkney and Shetland plan will deliver improvements through a combination of regulation, investment, awareness raising and guidance. Specific measures and action plans will be developed through the Orkney and Shetland advisory groups and subgroups. Further background information on measures is included in the Scotland river basin district plan.

Some key measures to achieve the priorities for the Orkney and Shetland area are described below. Further information on measures that the Orkney and Shetland advisory group will develop is included in the action plans. These will be kept as live documents during the planning cycle and updated as more measures are developed and implemented.

The priorities for the Orkney advisory group area are to tackle:

diffuse pollution affecting the Loch of Stenness and Orkney coastal catchments, and various coastal waters;
alterations to beds and banks of water bodies relating to agriculture, in the Loch of Stenness, Orkney coastal and Rousay coastal catchments;
point source pollution from sewage treatment affecting the Loch of Stenness catchment and coastal waters around Scapa Flow;
water abstraction and flow regulation on the Burn of Boardhouse, Heldale Water and Loch of Kirkbister.

In Shetland, the priorities for the advisory group are to tackle:

diffuse pollution affecting Loch of Spiggie, coastal waters at Bressay Sound and Scalloway, and shellfish waters in the Yell coastal and Shetland coastal catchments;
point source pollution from sewage treatment, predominantly affecting shellfish waters in the Yell coastal and Shetland coastal catchments;
abstraction and flow regulation for drinking water supply from the Burn of Roerwater and Burn of Mailand;
a single barrier to fish passage on the Burn of Laxobigging.

Some measures to tackle these issues are described below. More detail on how the Area Advisory Groups will develop measures is given in the action plans. Further details on specific pressures, and timescales for addressing these, will be given in catchment summaries for Orkney and Shetland.

To reduce the number of water bodies affected by diffuse pollution, the following national and local actions are planned:

national awareness raising on diffuse pollution, using voluntary, economic and regulatory measures. A Scotland-wide programme on diffuse pollution is currently underway. It is managed by a national partnership, called the Diffuse Pollution Management Advisory Group, and includes a campaign to promote the uptake of the diffuse pollution General Binding Rules.
action to improve the condition of shellfish waters, by joint working from a range of partners;
action by Scottish Natural Heritage and others to maintain and improve the condition of designated nature conservation sites (such as Loch of Stenness SAC and Lochs of Spiggie and Brow SPA). This could include catchment management work;
local authority guidance and policy on topics such as sustainable urban drainage systems, soakaways and buffer strips to reduce the impacts of nutrient enrichment on water bodies where new development takes place;
proposed partnership work on diffuse pollution at the Loch of Spiggie catchment in Shetland, and the Loch of Stenness catchment in Orkney.

To reduce the number of water bodies affected by sewage discharges, the following national and local actions are planned:

Scottish Water’s planned programme of investment in sewerage infrastructure has been developed in partnership with SEPA and others in order to address pressures on water bodies. In Orkney and Shetland, this programme will deliver specified improvements in sewerage provision, sewage treatment and water supply. SEPA and Scottish Water will also work closely with local planning authorities to ensure that the impacts of future developments on the water environment are considered throughout the planning process.

To reduce the number of water bodies affected by changes to beds and banks, and barriers to migratory fish movement, the following national and local actions are planned:

SEPA’s restoration fund can contribute towards the restoration of beds and banks, and removal of fish barriers from watercourses;
regulation can be used to ensure that future alterations and new barriers are mitigated through the use of good design;
locally, ongoing work by angling associations, local authorities and landowners can improve bank conditions, mitigate fish barriers and improve spawning habitats for migratory fish.

To reduce the number of water bodies affected by abstraction, the following national and local actions are planned:

Scottish Water investment will aim to minimise the amount of water required for supplying customers through efficient management of their water supply systems;
SEPA and Scottish Water will work with local planning authorities to highlight areas where abstraction for drinking water is putting pressure on water bodies, and where future development must be constrained or the development impacts mitigated.

Orkney and Shetland Area Advisory Group members have also identified a range of ongoing and future projects which can secure additional improvements in water body status. Examples include council-led work to promote restoration of more natural beds and banks for watercourses in Orkney, the delivery of a marine spatial plan for Shetland’s coastal waters and the preparation of the draft Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan.

Putting the plan into action: 2010

The Orkney and Shetland advisory groups will have several roles in developing the actions required to deliver river basin management planning objectives. The groups will help to identify actions needed at an area level and to translate nationally agreed actions into practical work. The groups will co-ordinate action, identify gaps where key pressures have been identified, but no action agreed, and consider how best to tackle these gaps.

The Orkney and Shetland advisory groups propose to use task groups to develop measures and deliver water body objectives. The advisory groups will retain an overview role and will receive updates from these task groups.

The task groups proposed to date are listed in Table 5 below with suggested lead organisations and partners. Further information is given as an action plan in Appendix 1.

Table 5: Proposed task group working by the Orkney and Shetland Area Avisory Groups

Name of task group	Chair/ lead organisation responsible for reporting back to full Area Advisory Group	Catchment (if appropriate)	Pressures addressed	Key partners
Spiggie Loch catchment group	SEPA	Shetland coastal	Diffuse pollution	SEPA, RSPB, SNH, Shetland Islands Council, local landowners, Scottish Water
Loch of Stenness catchment group	SNH^[1]	Loch of Stenness	Diffuse pollution Point pollution Alterations to beds and banks	SEPA, Orkney Islands Council, local landowners, Scottish Water
Land manager liaison (Orkney)	SEPA to hold initial partner meetings on this topic	All Orkney catchments	Diffuse pollution Alterations to beds and banks	NFUS, SGRPID
Small water bodies groups	SEPA (Orkney)	All		RSPB, SNH, OFTA
Small water bodies groups	SEPA (Shetland)	All		RSPB, SNH, Shetland Anglers Association

The Area Advisory Groups will receive updates from the task groups, and annual data reviews, which will enable them to monitor progress and consider where new measures should be developed and new task groups formed. The Area Advisory Groups will produce a short briefing each year which will outline progress in delivering river basin planning in Orkney and Shetland, and highlight significant areas of achievement and issues of concern. Short action plans will be produced by the task groups to tackle any issues of concern.

To be agreed and developed through ongoing discussions with Area Advisory Groups.