Environmental objectives for rural diffuse pollution

The river basin management plans for the Scotland and the Solway Tweed river basin districts set out our ambition to improve from 63% of water bodies in Scotland at good status to 97% by 2027. This plan will contribute by enabling stakeholders from a range of sectors and organisations to co-ordinate activities and resources to tackle diffuse pollution. It will also help to ensure that resources are used efficiently, and where possible other pressures on the water environment will be tackled at the same time.

This plan will also be key to delivering improvements to protected areas affected by diffuse pollution. More information on protected areas can be found in Chapter five of the Scotland and the Solway Tweed plans.

Through improving water bodies affected by diffuse pollution we have the potential to deliver benefits to biodiversity and flood management planning, and to restore beds, banks and shores that have been altered in the past. We can also help to increase our resilience to climate change and to control the introduction and spread of invasive non-native species, and. The implementation plan will enable stakeholders in these sectors to engage with the process of tackling diffuse pollution.

Sections 5 and 6 of this plan summarise two different tiers of action; national actions and those focused in specific catchments. The improvements that are expected to be delivered by these tiers are explained in these sections.