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SCOTLAND'S BATHING WATERS: A strategy for improvement
THE FUTURE
Revision of Bathing Waters Directive
32. In December 2000 the European Commission announced plans to revise the Bathing Waters Directive. It gave an indication of the thrust of the revision. One suggestion was to move from the present long list of parameters to new ones more specifically related to public health, developed from research undertaken since the original Directive. While these standards may be higher than those currently applicable, present indications are that they will be balanced by a compliance regime which encourages more pro-active management of bathing waters, taking appropriate action when problems become apparent. The emphasis would thus be less on simple compliance or failure, but on taking appropriate action.
33. The revision is likely also to suggest the involvement of a range of stakeholders in bathing water management planning. A forum involving the Scottish Executive, SEPA, the water authorities, local authorities, NGOs and various industrial sectors, called the Clean Coast Initiative, already exists in Scotland. It is likely to have a useful role in co-ordinating action across a range of stakeholders. This is one manifestation of a partnership approach which is already followed in Scotland, for example in the SUDSWP described in paragraph 18, or the steering group for the advisory post referred to in paragraph 29.
Water Framework Directive
34. The EC Water Framework Directive 12 will be the principal driver for water quality improvements over the next decade and beyond. It will provide the context within which the Bathing Water Directive and its forthcoming revision will operate. We will be required to build up a fuller picture of our water environment, enabling us to understand the processes which affect our bathing waters more fully, and to predict more accurately when problems might occur. It gives us the opportunity for a thorough revision of pollution control legislation, which has remained basically unchanged since 1974. A new pollution control regime could preserve COPA's many strengths while being more flexible and responsive to new challenges, and will give us the opportunity to integrate prevention and control of diffuse pollution into a coherent regime. The Scottish Executive issued an explanatory consultation paper Rivers, Lochs, Coasts in June 2001, describing the Directive and setting out proposals for comment on how it might be implemented in Scotland.
Identification of more bathing waters?
35. The Scottish Executive is aware that there are stretches of water used for recreation which have not been identified as bathing waters. Every year SEPA monitors some 50 such "recreational waters" against the Directive's standards, and reports on the results. Its consenting policies are designed to achieve the Directive's standards at these locations - and elsewhere along the coast. They have not been identified, however, because they were not put forward to the Bathing Waters Review Panel in 1998 - 99, or that panel was not convinced by the evidence given of current usage.
36. It is accepted that patterns of usage might change, and also that the revised Bathing Waters Directive may introduce definitional changes. However, apart from the uncertainty over definitional changes, the actions the revised Directive may require from stakeholders, such as SEPA, the water authorities, local authorities, and the tourism and other industries are still unknown. The Scottish Executive does not, therefore, intend to identify more bathing waters until the situation becomes clearer.
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