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Chapter seven
ABSTRACTION CONTROLS
Directive's requirements
7.1 The Directive explicitly requires controls over the abstraction of fresh surface water and groundwater where necessary to achieve the environmental objectives set out in the RBMP. These controls must take the form of a register of abstractions alongside prior authorisation/licensing. The Directive goes on to state that "Member States can exempt from these controls, abstractions or impoundments which have no significant impact on water status". However, although we enjoy an abundance of water there are problems in some areas. The environmental impact of each abstraction will therefore have to be considered carefully. It will only be possible to exempt those abstractions that are not causing ecological damage and that can only be done within the context of a comprehensive control regime that applies to all abstractions.
7.2 There is also a requirement to have controls over "any other significant adverse impacts on water status" for all waters. This means that abstractions from estuarine or coastal waters also have to be controlled where necessary to protect the environment.
Environmental Impact of Water Abstraction in Scotland
7.3 We enjoy an abundance of water in Scotland and, in general there is more than enough water to serve the needs of domestic consumers and business. However, over-abstraction does cause problems in certain areas at certain times of the year. An abstraction may take most of the water from a small source and there are catchments where there is not much water to go round. Under these circumstances, there is no doubt that fish and other aquatic life - the ecological status of the water - will be threatened and action to mitigate these effects will be required. The effects will be more severe in dry weather conditions.
7.4 It is important to remember that over abstraction exacerbates the effects of pollution because it reduces the ability of the water body to dilute pollution. Groundwater resources can also suffer from over abstraction. There is evidence that some Scottish groundwater resources are over used, particularly in Dumfries & Galloway and Fife. Careful management now will ensure that the resource is available to future generations.
7.5 We estimate that there are around 40-50,000 abstractions in Scotland at the present time. The majority of these will be small private supplies and other relatively small-scale abstractions, for example for crop irrigation. Large volumes of water are abstracted for public drinking water supply and for hydro-electricity schemes. In addition, a number of industries as diverse as whisky distillation and aquaculture, depend on water abstracted straight from the environment.
Controls
7.6 There are some legislative controls on certain types of abstraction. However, they do not apply to all abstractors and, in the main, the right to abstract water is founded in common law. Our suggestions for a system of abstraction controls are described in detail below. This regime won't just bring environmental benefits. It should also bring benefits to users. It will mean that water resources can be distributed equitably across catchments. Individual abstractors will have a degree of protection in cases where another person moves in to use their source. Discharges can be regulated more equitably because the regulator will have a better understanding of the flow available for dilution. Finally, abstractions will be able to be protected from pollution because SEPA will know where they are and how much water is being taken out.
Water Resource Management Strategies
7.7 Water use management is complex. It is best to plan it at a catchment level because of the way that the effects of different abstractions within a catchment interrelate with one another. Therefore, we suggest that water resource management strategies should be drawn up to form the basis for the regulator's decisions about individual abstractions. These could be at a river basin district scale or deal with smaller catchments where there are specific problems. They would be public documents, embedded within the RBMP. In particular, they could pinpoint particularly water rich and water poor areas within the district or the catchment and give an indication of what kinds of abstractions the regulator was likely to want to control. This kind of approach has found favour in England and Wales where the Environment Agency is actively developing Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies to underpin their abstraction control regime.
Thresholds
7.8 As we have already seen, the need for abstraction controls will vary from one part of the country to another. This could be highlighted in the proposed water resource management strategies. There are a large number of abstractions in Scotland and most of them are very minor. To help the regulator target their efforts towards those that are causing the real problems we suggest that a threshold should be set, above which abstractors would need to apply to the regulator for determination of whether they needed to be subject to controls. The setting of a threshold fulfils the Directive's requirements for prior authorisation of abstractions. We feel that 20m 3 per day (approximately equivalent to domestic supply for 150 people) is reasonable. This does not mean that all abstractions over this limit would be licensed. Far from it, some abstractions over this threshold may not need to be controlled at all and for others simple registration under a statutory regime may suffice.
7.9 Of course, the general principles described in Chapter 4 would also apply. The regulator would be able to bring abstractions below this threshold into the system where necessary to protect the environment. There would also be a requirement to notify the regulator of all abstractions to inform the water resource management strategies.
Information from abstractors
7.10 We think that it is reasonable to ask all abstractors to supply some basic information about their abstraction - such as the quantity abstracted, the location and an indication of the pattern of abstraction (whether it is continuous or intermittent for example). For abstractions that are subject to more than simple registration more detailed information will be required. This would include some assessment of the environmental effect of the abstraction.
Simplified Controls
7.11 There are ways to reduce the regulatory burden for abstractors that will need a licence. For instance, single licences could be issued to cover multiple abstractions made by an abstractor at a single site or operational unit. Where water is abstracted for cooling purposes and returned to the source more or less unchanged, one licence could be issued to cover both the uptake and the discharge of water.
7.12 As we have seen, water resource use is complex. Sometimes, many abstractions are involved in a single operation or several abstractors in a single area use water in a complex, interdependent way. It is difficult to express this complexity in terms of individual licences. Agreed management plans between the abstractor(s) and the regulator offer a more sophisticated alternative. Individual licences would need to be retained for enforcement purposes but management agreements could also be used to resolve conflicts between competing users, allowing everyone to utilise the resource to its full capacity. Special plans to deal with exceptional circumstances such as floods and droughts could also be drawn up. We will also need to consider issues in relation to the transferability of licences.
7.13 The flow diagram in Table 7.1 summarises how the abstraction regime might operate in practice. These ideas need to be developed further. However, we would welcome your views at this stage. Should we proceed to design the system along the lines described above? Is there any scope for taking a different approach? How should the new regime interact with existing regimes?
Table 7.1: Proposed Abstraction and Impoundment Controls
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