• About us
• Air
• Climate change
• Flooding
• Land
• Planning
• Radioactive substances
• Waste
• Water
• Bathing waters
• Diffuse pollution
• Hydropower
• Marine Science
• Monitoring and classification
• Protected areas
• Restoration fund
• River basin planning
• Scotland
• Solway Tweed
• National Advisory Group
• Area Advisory Groups
• Argyll and Lochaber
• Clyde
• Forth
• North East Scotland
• North Highland
• Orkney and Shetland
• Solway
• Tay
• Tweed
• AMP Introduction
• Condition and objectives
• Actions planned
• Tweed AMP Appendix 1
• West Highland
• Area Advisory Group forums
• Fish and Fisheries AG
• How we work with others
• DP Priority catchments
• Significant issues
• Waterbody Data Sheets
• Diffuse pollution MAG
• River levels
• Water regulation
• Water publications
• External links
• Science and research
• Customer information...
• SEPA Kids

Condition of the water environment in the Tweed area

The condition of the water environment is monitored and assessed as one of five classes: high, good, moderate, poor or bad. A water body at high status is considered to be in an almost natural condition. Groundwaters are classified as either good or poor for both water quality and water quantity. These classes, and the standards they represent, apply across the UK and have been agreed across Europe. The focus of the Water Framework Directive is to ensure that all water bodies reach good status and do not deteriorate to less than good status.

Some surface waters in the Tweed are have been designated as heavily modified water bodies (HMWB), which means they have been physically modified for a specific use such as drinking water reservoirs or flood embankments. These water bodies are classified according to five classes by ecological potential instead of status, which is a measure of the extent to which each water body’s ecological quality has been maximised within the limits imposed by the physical modifications necessary for its use. No water bodies have been designated as ‘artificial’ in the Tweed area, using the criteria used under the Water Framework Directive, although man has influenced the environment over many generations.

The classification scheme contains many elements and uses datasets collected over many years in combination with data on newly monitored aspects of the natural environment. Thus, some of the classification results presented in this plan are based on long term datasets, which allow us to make assessments with high confidence levels, while others are based on data collected over only one or two years – or are calculated using a modelled approach – and so our confidence in these assessments are lower.

Nevertheless, the data presented here gives a complete picture of water ecosystem health for the whole Tweed catchment for the first time. The classification scheme will continue to be developed and new data added as river basin planning progresses, thus there is the provision to fine tune the classification assessments over subsequent years.

Condition of surface waters and groundwater

Table 1 presents the current overall classification of water bodies in the Tweed area, and Map 2 shows their geographical distribution.

Just over half (52%) of the natural surface waters in the Tweed area are in good or better condition. The remainder of natural surface waters are mostly in moderate condition (38%) or poor (10%). Around two thirds (66%) of heavily modified water bodies are at less than good ecological potential. The majority of groundwaters (88%) are currently in good condition, with those in the east assessed as poor for water chemistry, water quantity or both (Map 3). As more data is collected, and the newly introduced classification tools improve, our understanding in some aspects of the classification scheme will increase.

The pressures and risks affecting the Tweed water environment are discussed in the “Reasons why some water bodies are not in good condition” chapter of this document.

*Bodies of groundwater are classed as either of good status or poor status.

Map 2: Condition of surface waters in the Tweed catchment using 2008 information, as presented in the Solway Tweed river basin plan (click for larger image)

Map 3: Condition of groundwater across the Solway Tweed river basin district using 2008 information, as presented in the Solway Tweed river basin plan (click for larger image)

Condition of protected areas

A large proportion of the water environment in the Tweed area has been identified as requiring special protection because of its particular economic, social or environmental importance or sensitivity to pollution. These areas are water bodies or parts of water bodies that:

• are used for drinking water supply;
• support economically significant shellfish or freshwater fish stocks;
• are designated bathing waters;
• support habitats or species of international biodiversity conservation importance;
• are sensitive to nutrient enrichment.

These areas represent some of the area’s most valued natural assets. By protecting them we will help safeguard biodiversity, sustain employment in our rural communities and protect our drinking water sources from pollution.

The classifications of the protected areas in the Tweed catchment are described in the Solway Tweed river basin plan and can be summarised as:

• five Special Area of Conservation sites, all achieving favourable status with the exception of the River Tweed Special Area of Conservation (see the “Targets for the water environment in the Tweed area” chapter of this document);
• seven Special Protection Area sites, all at favourable status;
• salmon fisheries across the Tweed catchment are in good condition;
• bathing waters at Spittal Beach are currently in poor condition;
• Nitrate Vulnerable Zones in the Lothian/Borders and Cornhill on Tweed;
• Drinking Water Protection Zones, none of which have been identified as at risk of deterioration.

The majority of these sites are currently meeting the standards set for them; the exceptions and their targets for improvement are discussed in the “Targets for the water environment in the Tweed area” chapter of this document.

Reasons why water bodies are not in good condition

The key pressures and risks causing Tweed water bodies and protected areas to be at less than good ecological status are:

• nutrient enrichment from diffuse pollution (pollution coming from several dispersed sources) from rural land management;
• alterations to beds, banks and shores through rural land use activities, for example channel straightening for drainage on land used for livestock, forestry and mixed farming activities and barriers to fish migration;
• abstraction of water from rivers and lochs for public water supply and farming;
• the presence or risk posed by introduction of invasive non-native species such as the American Signal Crayfish;

This list of key issues does not cover all the pressures found in the Tweed area; detailed information on the individual classifications, pressures and actions for each water body is available from the interactive maps and water body information sheets.

Targets for the water environment in the Tweed area

The Solway Tweed river basin management plan has two broad aims:

• to prevent deterioration in the water bodies currently in good or better condition;
• to improve and restore those currently in moderate, poor or bad condition.

Almost 56% of water bodies in the Tweed area are currently at good or better status, so the target for these water bodies is to maintain this status over the coming years. Action is required to improve the remaining surface and groundwaters to good or better condition by 2027 (Table 2). The long-term view (through to 2027) of phased improvement allows us to take the potential cost and feasibility of the work that needs to happen into account, whilst managing uncertainties such as confidence in the monitoring results or the impact of climate change.

The bathing water at Spittal beach is predicted to achieve the sufficient standard by 2015 as defined by the Bathing Water Directive, while the River Tweed Special Area of Conservation is assessed by Scottish Natural Heritage as having unfavourable status due to alien species and diffuse pollution from agricultural sources (as defined by the Habitat Directive), and should be favourable – or at least show signs of recovery – by 2027.

There are circumstances under which deterioration in status may be considered acceptable. Such “exemptions” occur when it is judged that the benefits would improve human health, maintain human safety, allow sustainable development or be in the overriding public interest. To date there are no water bodies in Solway or Tweed area where exemptions have been allowed.

For five water bodies, it is judged that good status cannot be achieved even by 2027. For the most part this is because there is currently no feasible and effective way to make the necessary improvements. For these water bodies, we have set a lower, or less stringent, objective than good status.

• Two water bodies are affected by the presence of North American Signal Crayfish, an invasive non-native species. It is currently judged to be technically infeasible to remove established populations of North American signal crayfish, or sufficiently mitigate their impact, in order to achieve good ecological status by 2027.
• Winterhope Burn is currently impassable to fish and its target for 2027 will be to remain at poor status.
• Two groundwater bodies, around Coldstream and Duns, will remain poor for groundwater quantity beyond 2027.