Forth Area Advisory Group: who's who SEPA is the responsible body for co-ordinating the production of River Basin Management Plans in the Scotland RBD as required by Section 10 of the WEWS Act and for the technical aspects of the river basin planning process. SEPA will chair the Area Advisory Groups in the first instance. The Chair will be supported by a River Basin Planning Coordinator provided by SEPA. Each Area Advisory Group will have its own coordinator who will be the first point of contact for the area. They will act as liaison between the members of the Area Advisory Group, members of the AAG Forum and SEPA. Area Advisory Group Coordinators’ contact details.

Forth Area Advisory Group Membership

Forth AAG Membership is determined by the range and type of pressures in the Forth area so the Membership includes representatives from the hydro sector, local authorities, Forestry Commission, agriculture, Scottish Water, British Waterways and other sectors such as fisheries and recreation.

• Forth Area Advisory Group member organisations.
  
  

AAG membership is flexible and it will be possible for additional members to be co-opted onto the AAG for agreed periods to assist with the preparation of particular aspects of River Basin Planning. Additional representation can be co-opted onto the Area Advisory Group for single meetings, to cover specific agenda items or for a short period, to advise the Area Advisory Group on a particular issue. These representatives are not full members therefore will not determine quorum or take part in voting.

Forth Area Advisory Group will assist SEPA and other responsible authorities in carrying out their duties and obligations under the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and other associated regulations.  Forth Area Advisory group meets regularly and provides a mechanism to support the production of a River Basin Management Plan and its co-ordination with other plans and programmes.  The meetings provide a means to consult with responsible authorities and interested parties, to reach consensus and to prioritise views on river basin planning and WFD related matters.

Forth Area Advisory Group meeting agendas and minutes

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Pressures and Impacts: characterisation in the Forth Area Each River Basin Management Plan and the Area Management Plans it contains will record the River Basin District characteristics. Characterisation of an area will include information on the pressures & impacts, protected areas and economic information. Characterisation will also detail environmental objectives with timescales for their achievement; a programme of measures to achieve objectives, including who will do what and when; monitoring networks and programmes; and consultation/participation opportunities for interested parties.

The map to the left shows some of the results from some early characterisation work in the Forth area. SEPA’s WFD characterisation database is being continually updated and summary pressure and impact data will change over time.

In the Forth AAG water bodies in all categories – surface waters (freshwater, transitional and coastal) and groundwater – have been identified as being “at risk”.  Lochs in particular are of importance.  The main pressures for fresh waters are morphological alterations (i.e. changes in the physical structure of water bodies), abstraction and flow regulation and diffuse pollution.  For transitional and coastal waters the key issues are diffuse source and point source pollution.

• More information on characterisation
  
  

SEPA has published a report characterising the Scotland River Basin District, which can be found by following the link:  Scotland River Basin District:  Characterisation and Impacts Analyses required by Article 5 of the Water Framework Directive.

Monitoring and Classfication

The WFD requires SEPA, and other responsible organisations in Scotland, to develop new monitoring and classification systems by December 2006. The monitoring and classification systems will cover all surface water and groundwater bodies, and be based on a new Ecological Classification system. The new system has five quality classes underpinned by monitoring a range of biological quality elements.

• More information on monitoring and classification