Actions planned to achieve our objectives

The Tay area has 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 protect water bodies currently at good or better status and restore water bodies that are not at good 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 irrigation, drinking water supply, hydropower generation and flood protection.

The Tay area management plan will deliver improvements through a combination of regulation, investment, raising awareness, guidance and further background information and is included in the river basin management plan for Scotland river basin district.

Some key measures to achieve the priorities for the Tay area and how they link to national processes are described below. Information on the key measures that the Tay Area Advisory Group will take forward is included in the action plan on the website. The action plan will be kept as a live document during the planning cycle and updated as more measures are developed and implemented.

Table 8: Pollution
	Pressure identified as reason for not achieving good status
	Rural diffuse pollution	Urban drainage and diffuse pollution	Point source pollution
National process	National implementation plan for diffuse pollution – Development of priority catchments process and guidance for targeted awareness raising. See below for further information.	National Sustainable Urban Drainage (NSUD) working party.	Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR)
Advisory group activity	Link to priority catchment work and assist with communication.	Promotion of SUDs and drainage plans.	Raising awareness for disposal. Education campaigns. Measures delivery plans.
Lead authorities responsible for ensuring action is taken	Scotland’s Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS), National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS), Diffuse Pollution Management Advisory Group (DPMAG), Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA).	Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water, Local Authorities.	SEPA, Scottish Water, Coal Authority and local authorities.

Priority catchments

The selection of priority catchments is a necessary step in implementing SEPA’s diffuse pollution mitigation strategy. The catchments impacted by diffuse pollution have been prioritised and scheduled for targeted measures in the future three river basin management plan (RBMP) cycles. Its aim is for water bodies within the priority catchments to improve by one class during the cycle they are being targeted in, aiming to reach good status by 2027.

Priority catchment work will cover diffuse pollution, morphology, non-native invasive species and abstraction pressures. The first step in this process is to carry out catchment walks, followed by raising awareness of the issues with land managers and finally inspections and audits to assess legislative compliance, as well as suggesting measures to mitigate pressures.

Table 9 shows the RBMP cycles for the two priority catchments and the 10 proposed candidate priority catchments in cycle 2 and 3. To make best use of resources the Tay area advisory subgroup activity will coincide with the timescale for priority catchment work. This work fits with the RBMP aims of working with established processes and creating strong partnerships.

Table 9: Priority catchment timescale within the Tay area
	Cycle 1 (to 2015)	Candidate catchments cycle 2 (to 2021)	Candidate catchmentscycle 3 (to 2027)
Fife catchment
River Eden		●
North Fife Coastal		●
Earn Coastal		●
River Earn			●
Perth Coastal			●
Dundee
Dundee Coastal		●
Dighty Water		●
Dundee/Angus
Kincardine & Angus Coastal		●
Lunan Water		●
River North Esk			●
River South Esk	●
River Tay
River Tay	●
Tay AMP	2 catchments	7 catchments	3 catchments

Table 10: Abstraction and impoundment
	Pressure identified as reason for not achieving good status
	Water resource, agricultural irrigation.	Water resource, drinking water supply.	Hydropower.
National process	Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR)	Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR), Scottish Water.	Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR)
Advisory group activity.	Targeted education on best practice. Tay agriculture abstraction pilot project.	Review water bodies where this pressure is identified to assess any possible contributions.	Review water bodies where this pressure is identified to assess any possible contributions.
Lead authorities responsible for ensuring action is taken.	SEPA, Scottish Water, SEARS.	SEPA, Scottish Water.	SEPA.

Table 11: Alteration to beds, banks and shores
	Pressure identified as reason for not achieving good status
	Urban land uses and urban flood protection.	Invasive non-native species (INNS).	Fish barrier removal.
National process.	HMWB assessments and workshops, flooding implementation.	National INNS group.	National projects to assess priority barriers.
Advisory group activity.	Link to flooding. groups, identify areas for natural flood plain management.	Esk biosecurity plan. Review water bodies where this pressure is identified to identify future projects to eradicate INNS.	Review water bodies. where this pressure is identified and encourage restoration fund applications.
Lead authorities responsible for ensuring action is taken.	Local Authorities, National Park Authorities, SEPA.	SEPA, SNH, Esk District Salmon Fishery Board.	Local Authorities, SEPA, SNH (focused on designated sites)

Catchment management planning is well developed for the South Esk, where it has catchment. The South Esk Catchment Management Plan has been developed through extensive engagement with stakeholders, and the Tay area management plan must link closely with these plans without trying to replicate them. It is hoped that RBMP can offer data and an overarching framework for catchment management plans.

Putting the plan into action

The advisory group has worked to develop an action programme for this first area management plan, and will continue to assess how well these measures are working. The group will review the status of water bodies and the progress of measures in the Tay area on an annual basis, and will amend existing measures and develop new measures as required.

The group will consider the interaction of national processes with local initiatives, and will use their local knowledge to identify gaps where additional action is needed. The group has agreed that its efforts should be focused on complex issues where partnership working is required, and has identified five priorities for action during the first period of river basin planning (2010–2015):

diffuse pollution from farming and sewage disposal;
abstraction for arable farming and production of renewable energy;
flow regulation for the production of renewable energy;
alterations to beds and banks from drinking water supply, production or renewable energy and farming;
point source pollution from sewage disposal.

To help with these priorities, the group has agreed a number of partnership and subgroup working approaches to focus their efforts and develop pilot projects during 2010.

Establishing subgroups

At the start of the river basin planning process, the advisory group decided to look at particular issues, data and measures at a catchment scale. Four subgroups linking together catchments (in Fife, Dundee, Dundee/Angus and Tay) were consequently established. This made sense for the members of the advisory group who may only be covering a small part of the Tay area. Working on smaller areas also made it easier to understand and interpret the data and discuss measures. Responses on the draft area management plans further emphasised the need for information to be given and discussed at a smaller scale than at full group level.

Therefore, throughout the river basin planning process, the advisory group will form subgroups to deal with pressures at a catchment scale. The timing of establishing the subgroups will coincide with priority catchment work, therefore subgroup activity will focus on the South Esk and Tay catchments in the first cycle of river basin planning (2009 until 2015).

Diffuse pollution from farming and sewage disposal

South Esk catchment

It has been agreed that the established South Esk catchment management plan group will act as a subgroup for RBMP work. The Tay Area Advisory Group will work closely with this group and the South Esk priority catchment co-ordinator to ensure that the diffuse pollution, morphology, alien species and abstraction pressures within the South Esk are addressed. This may involve advisory group members inputting local knowledge of the area, raising awareness of the issues and advising on measures.

Tay catchment

A specific subgroup for the Tay catchment will be established at the end of 2010. The advisory group will advise of the correct membership of this and work with the River Tay priority catchment co-ordinator to establish a work plan. Lessons learnt from working in the South Esk will be drawn upon.

Abstraction for arable farming and production of renewable energy

An abstraction pilot project is underway in Angus and its findings will inform the work of the group.

Flow regulation and barriers to fish

We will form a small subgroup to review knowledge on fish barriers, prioritise action and seek funding to remove or mitigate barriers. This is likely to link with SEPA’s annual data review meetings.

Alterations to beds and banks from water collection, purification and distribution, production or renewable energy and farming

We will highlight potential areas outwith priority catchments suitable for morphological mitigation measures and facilitate projects potentially using SEPA’s restoration funding.

Point source pollution

The Area Advisory Group will receive regular updates from Scottish Water and SEPA on progress with planned investment in water treatment, sewerage and abstraction levels. Local authorities will also be asked to provide updates on their planning policies which relate to water treatment and drinking water supply, and how these are working to tackle point source pollution and abstraction.

Awareness raising and helping to promote wider action

We will form a small communications task group to develop a programme of events and prepare a communication plan to improve public engagement with river basin planning.

The Area Advisory Group will receive updates from the subgroups which will enable them to monitor progress. They will produce a short briefing each year which will outline progress in delivering river basin planning in the Tay area, and highlight significant areas of achievement and issues of concern. Short action plans will be produced by subgroups to tackle any issues of concern.