INDEX
CONSULTATIONS
UK NEWS
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
PROJECTS
PUBLICATIONS
EVENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
CONSULTATIONS
Waste Water National Policy Statement
Defra Consultation
(Posted 18 November 2010)
To prevent environmental damage and poor water quality, the Government must provide an adequate wastewater infrastructure. The strategic need and justification for a new wastewater infrastructure are set out in the draft National Policy Statement for Waste Water and the accompanying documents. The Consultation Document explains the context and purpose of the draft National Policy Statement and poses a number of questions at Chapter 6.
The consultation runs from 16 November 2010 to 22 February 2011.
For further information and to download the consultation documents visit the Defra website:
(http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/waste-water/index.htm)
Implementing the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003: The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 - introducing emergency provisions and improving effectiveness
Scottish Government Consultation
(Posted 18 November 2010)
This consultation introduces provisions for a range of emergency situations and proposes some general improvements to the operation of CAR.
The consultation runs from 04 October to 24 December 2010.
The consultation document is available on the Scottish Government website:
(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/09/30144904/0)
UK NEWS
Defra confirms Higher Level Stewardship funding and new Environmental Stewardship payment schedule
(Posted 18 November 2010)
On 16 November 2010 the Government confirmed the details of spending on Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) until 2014. The announcement means that farmers who have applied to join the HLS scheme this year, and are waiting to learn if they’ve been successful, can be given start dates. Further changes to the scheme will focus its role on safeguarding the environment. More money will go to protecting wildlife and reducing water pollution and less spent on farm renovations and access to the countryside.
Full text of the press release is available on the Defra website:
(http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/11/16/hls-scheme/)
Bathing water results for England unveiled
(Posted 18 November 2010)
The bathing water monitoring results for the 2010 season in England and the UK were announced on the 15 November 2010. The new figures from Defra reveal that the vast majority of England’s bathing waters continue to meet tough quality standards. 97.6% of England’s bathing waters met the European Commission’s minimum water quality threshold in 2010, tests carried out by the Environment Agency show. 72.6% met the tightest guideline standard. Measures taken to reduce and mitigate pollution from agricultural sources include the England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative and the establishment of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, which cover approximately 62% of England. The Government is also planning to increase the uptake of sustainable drainage systems and to target diffuse pollution, including measures to correct sewer misconnections.
For further information on bathing waters and the Bathing Water Directive visit the Defra website:
(http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/water/waterquality/bathing/index.htm)
Full text of the press release is available on the Defra website:
(http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/11/15/bathing-news/)
SEPA launches a review of water abstraction licences in Scotland
(Posted 18 November 2010)
During a recent assessment Scotland’s environment watchdog found that a large number of watercourses, particularly in the east of Scotland, were downgraded due to abstraction activities. SEPA has been able to develop a number of options to enable the sustainable use of the limited water available for abstractions and to ensure that the requirements of the Water Framework Directive are being met. With a view to reducing the pressures on water resources, SEPA now intends to discuss the issues with the abstractors who are farming in the impacted catchments. These discussions will cover issues such as:
SEPA will be contacting farmers in impacted catchments over the next 18 months to progress the reviews.
Full text of the press release is available on the SEPA website:
(http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/news/2010/sepa_launches_a_review_of_wate.aspx)
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
New agreement reached in Nagoya: statement from
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman
(Posted 18 November 2010)
On 29 October 2010 Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, issued a statement welcoming the new agreement reached in Nagoya for setting targets to protect the natural environment. Caroline Spelman said:
‘These have been long and hard negotiations, but we have successfully achieved a new global plan to help protect our natural environment. We have also agreed an historic protocol which has been 18 years in the making, establishing a regime where developing countries will allow access to their genetic and natural resources in return for a share of the benefits for their use.’
Full text of the statement is available on the Defra website:
(http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/news/2010/10/29/nagoya-statement/)
(Posted 18 November 2010)
From UNESCO Water Portal Bi-monthly Newsletter No. 240, 03 November 2010 (http://www.unesco.org/water/): A new blog on water-related policy and challenges, the Global Water Forum, has been established. The Forum publishes weekly contributions on water issues from various perspectives and disciplines, submitted by some of the world’s leading water researchers and practitioners. The contributions draw upon international case studies to generate accessible and evidence-based insights about how to understand and how to face local, regional and global water challenges. The first contribution discusses the water reform process in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin. At the site you can easily subscribe to the blog to receive a free weekly update as a new contribution is posted (every Monday).
The Global Water Forum welcomes participants, and is looking for evidenced-based opinion pieces of up to 1,000 words:
(http://www.globalwaterforum.org/)
PROJECTS
From theory and plans to eco-efficient and sustainable practices to improve the status of the Baltic Sea
(Posted 18 November 2010)
The project aims to improve the status of the Baltic Sea by assisting the implementation of river basin management plans into practice in the region. WATERPRAXIS is partly funded by the Interreg IVB Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. WATERPRAXIS is based on the Interreg IIIB project "Watersketch" (2004-2007). Among the objectives of the project is to disseminate information on best practices and measures of water management via publications, seminars and websites and to offer training and education programmes for planners in the water management sector.
WATERPRAXIS International Summer Course on Sustainability, River Basin Management and Climate Change in the Baltic Sea took place on 21 - 25 September 2010 in Hamburg, Germany. The training material is available for download at the projects website:
(http://www.waterpraxis.net/en/downloadsresults/viewcategory/18.html)
The WATERPAXIS Symposium 2011 on Climate Change Challenges in River Basin Management will take place on 17 to 20 January 2011 in Oulu, Finland. The symposium aims to be a forum in the context of which exchanges between policy-makers, stakeholders, and scientists will take place, on issues that are closely related to the implementation of EU water policies. A particular emphasis is on the impacts of climate change within the context of other multiple stressors such as agriculture and eutrophication.
For further details on symposium and information on the project visit the WATERPRAXIS website:
PUBLICATIONS
regulation for a sustainable water industry
A positive vision for the future water industry in England and Wales
CIWEM, September 2010, 45 pages
(Posted 18 November 2010)
CIWEM believes a wide-reaching review of the governance of the water industry is needed now. Notwithstanding the successes achieved in the delivery of water and sewerage services in the last two decades, the structure, regulation and management of the water sector needs to be considered afresh if the challenges of the future, from population growth, climate change and environmental management are to be met. CIWEM's vision includes calls for more carbon, water and resource efficiency; more innovation, the frequent reuse of water and the sustainable management of catchments. Relationships in the industry also need to change with more partnership working, more integration and water companies delivering broader water "services" - through a regulatory regime based on long term investment and planning cycles. CIWEM also believes that the true price of water needs to be established and for metering to become commonplace.
They believe these measures need to be built into a future Water Bill and subsequent secondary legislation and guidance. CIWEM hopes that the 2011 Water White Paper will provide a platform for this by including a single set of industry objectives.
The document is available for download at the CIWEM website:
SEPA publishes guidance leaflet on river dredging:
‘Floods, dredging and river changes’
(Posted 18 November 2010)
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published this new online leaflet to help inform people about the regulatory issues that affect dredging works on riverbeds. The leaflet is designed to help clarify what the regulations are and what SEPA is or isn’t able to permit within the rules. The leaflet includes:
For more details and to download the guidance leaflet visit the SEPA website:
(http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/news/2010/sepa_publishes_guidance_leafle.aspx)
EVENTS
The Wastewater and Urban Drainage Conference, WaPUG
What does the future hold? The next 5 years
Presentations and related documents from the conference, 10 November 2010, Blackpool
(Posted 18 November 2010)
The aim of this conference was to give delegates a flavour of the challenges faced by urban drainage practitioners in delivering significant capital and operational investment programmes over the next 5 years, for both Water Companies and Local Authorities. These challenges include the drive for efficiencies, innovation, system optimisation and operation, accounting for carbon, climate change and collaborative working, all topics that have been covered by the conference.
For further information and to view the presentations visit the CMS website:
(http://www.coastms.co.uk/conferences/439/show)
CIWEM/CMS Conference,
London, 21 October 2010
(Posted 18 November 2010)
The water sector is often portrayed as fragmented and working in isolated silos and yet some of the major policy drivers require an integrated and holistic view of water in relation to issues such as population growth, planning and development, WFD, land use, valuation and climate change. A range of mechanisms that now enable a much higher level of integrated working, including integrated catchment management, water cycle planning, partnership working and the use of ecosystem services, were covered by the conference.
For further information and to view the presentations visit the CMS website:
(http://www.coastms.co.uk/conferences/435/show)