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Section 2 - Progress on Implementation
This section details progress made during 2005 against the WEWS Act objectives and briefly highlights work planned for 2006.
6 The Responsible Authorities
Section 2 of the WEWS Act allows Scottish Ministers to designate public bodies as 'responsible authorities' under the Act, in relation to specific functions that have an impact on the water environment, such as planning or forestry. Designation is intended to ensure that the public body considers the water environment in carrying out its duties, and ensures compliance with the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. This will help to achieve an integrated approach to managing and protecting the water environment in Scotland while still allowing its sustainable use.
Designated responsible authorities will be required to work co-operatively and to take an active part in river basin planning. The bodies will also have to consider flood management and sustainable development and how these principles can be achieved within the context of the Directive and the river basin planning process.
Designation of responsible authorities will therefore ensure that environmental concerns are addressed at an early stage in the planning of activities that pose a risk to the water environment. It should also help to ensure that a balance between environmental objectives and social and economic concerns is achieved in the discharge of the public bodies' normal duties.
In July 2005, a discussion paper on the designation of responsible authorities was issued, setting out proposals for the role of these authorities and identifying bodies for designation. Responses from a wide variety of stakeholders have been taken into account in drafting proposals for designation. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has also been carried out, assessing the implications of the proposed designations. We expect to lay a Designation Order before Parliament in early 2006.
Section 2 of the WEWS Act also places similar requirements on Scottish Ministers and SEPA, who will need to exercise their own functions in a manner that secures compliance with the Water Framework Directive. The Executive will be identifying the relevant functions of Scottish Ministers and SEPA via a similar designation process during 2006.
The 2005 discussion paper on responsible authorities can be seen at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1057/0016199.pdf
Focus on Hydropower
Hydropower is an important industry with a long history in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and north-west. It offers a valuable low-emissions energy source and has the potential to be a major contributor to meeting ambitious renewables targets both in Scotland and across the EU. Hydropower also helps to reduce flooding in some areas by trapping flood waters behind dams, delaying their arrival downstream.
However, hydropower generation also poses significant risks to the water environment, through abstraction, impoundment behind weirs and dams, and particularly through physical alterations to water bodies, such as fixed banks, straightened rivers, and big fluctuations in water level. Changes like these in hydromorphology - watercourse shape and flow patterns - have been identified across Europe as the largest risks to the water environment, and the most likely to prevent WFD ecological objectives being achieved. The hydropower industry takes steps to reduce its impact on the environment, such as ensuring minimum flows are maintained and installing fish passes. However, although overall water loss is often nil, many schemes transfer water from one body to another, or impound it for long periods, which by default have a significant impact on the water ecology. It is therefore likely that further mitigation measures will need to be implemented under the Water Framework Directive.
The Executive's aim in implementing the WFD is to balance sustainable water use with protection of the water environment. A policy framework that balances differing environmental priorities against each other, and against social and economic constraints, is crucial if Europe is to provide a stable environment for business investment in renewable sources of energy, such as hydropower. We have been working with the hydropower industry over a number of years to ensure that we implement the Directive in a way that minimises the impact on hydropower capacity. Hydropower representatives are active members of the Ministerial National Stakeholders' Forum ( NSF), and contributed significantly to the development of the Controlled Activities Regulations (see section 10).
In 2005, this collaborative approach was extended to a European scale. In June, the European Commission established a project to explore the impacts of physical alterations to water bodies, identifying hydropower, navigation and flood protection as the main pressures. The project will explore how the aims of these areas can be effectively integrated with the aims of the Water Framework Directive.
The first step in this process was a 3-day workshop in Prague in October 2005, bringing together delegates from administrations, agencies and industry in 24 Member States. The conference was organised largely by SEPA and co-led by the UK, Germany and the European Commission. The Executive led for the UK on hydropower, with technical support from SEPA. A representative of Scottish and Southern Energy ( SSE), Scotland's largest hydropower producer, was also in our delegation.
Joint-working was a key focus of the workshop. Delegates shared information on best practice and developed an understanding of common objectives. Sessions explored ways to assess risks from hydropower, flood defences and navigation and how best to mitigate them, while safeguarding water use and contributing to other needs, such as for renewable energy and transport. Recommendations will be taken forward by a European working group, who will explore further how best to integrate water protection policy and other areas, at national and EU levels.
More information on monitoring hydromorphology can be found from SEPA's website at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/wfd/monitoring/morphology.htm
7 Further Pressures and Impacts Analysis
Section 5 of the WEWS Act requires SEPA to produce a report describing the pressures and impacts upon the water environment within each River Basin District ( RBD) by 22 December 2004. Reports on the Scotland RBD and Solway-Tweed RBD were presented to the Executive in December 2004 and then submitted to the European Commission in March 2005, as required by the Directive.
A commitment has been made to refine the initial characterisation of waters over the coming years, as set out in a paper from the joint UK administrations. Further characterisation will involve a refinement of the initial assessment and lead to more accurate results. This in turn will result in better-focused and more effective measures being designed to deliver environmental targets for each water body.
As part of initial characterisation, water bodies were reported under four categories, relative to the perceived risk of meeting their environmental objectives:
- (1a) at significant risk
- (1b) probably at risk
- (2a) probably not at risk and
- (2b) not at significant risk.
During 2005, work has focused on learning more about those water bodies initially classified as 1b 'probably at risk', in order to determine whether they are at risk or not. A variety of information has been used to date, such as 2003 and 2004 water quality data. The next phase will take advantage of information from additional samples that have been collected, and better water resource data that will become available through the implementation of the Controlled Activities Regulations.
Updated results will be reported as part of the Significant Water Management Issues Report, which SEPA intends to publish in mid-2007, in order to allow sufficient time to take consultation responses into account when preparing the first draft River Basin Management Plan.
The administrations' joint statement on the next steps of characterisation is at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/wfd/pdf/character-nextsteps.pdf
SEPA's initial characterisation reports can be found from these links:
Scotland RBD:http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/wfd/Article_5_Scotland_River_Basin.pdf
Solway-Tweed RBD:http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/wfd/Article_5_Solway_Tweed.pdf
8 Environmental Standards and Monitoring
Environmental Standards
Environmental standards and conditions are needed to assess and define the wider environmental conditions that support a healthy ecosystem. The standards include factors like water flow regimes and alterations to river beds and banks as well as concentrations of key chemicals. Standards will underpin the objective-setting process in River Basin Management Plans, so it is vital that they are based on sound scientific evidence.
In order to ensure consistency across UK borders, standards are being developed on a UK-wide basis, based on scientific research by the UK Technical Advisory Group ( UKTAG). The approach being taken in the UK is explained in a joint statement issued by the administrations in January 2006. UKTAG issued a report on the proposed environmental standards in February 2006 for external review, inviting comments from a wide range of stakeholders.
In order to develop a robust framework, it is important to consider the science-base first, independently of any potential cost implications. However, it is equally important that the social and economic impact of the new standards is assessed rigorously. A Regulatory Impact Assessment is being prepared jointly by the UK administrations to provide detailed advice on the cost implications of the standards that are proposed. A consultation will then be carried out on these standards in the early summer of 2006.
The scientific and economic data and stakeholder comments will all be used to refine proposals in the summer. It is expected that the first standards will be introduced in Scotland in October 2006, following Ministerial decisions.
During 2005, SEPA continued to lead UK input into a pan-European 'intercalibration' exercise, designed to ensure that the ecological classification schemes developed in each Member State are comparable. This first phase of the exercise is scheduled to end in 2006 and the European Commission has indicated that a second phase should be planned, in order to intercalibrate a wider range of pressures than has been possible in phase one.
Monitoring
The Water Framework Directive requires a risk-based monitoring programme for the water environment in Scotland to be developed by December 2006. The WEWS Act identifies SEPA as the responsible authority for leading the monitoring efforts in Scotland. This means that SEPA has overall responsibility for monitoring the status of the water environment and for preparing a monitoring programme, although monitoring work may also be undertaken by other bodies.
Delivery of the WFD-specific monitoring programme will require the development of numerous new tools for monitoring pollution, abstractions and habitat damage. Classification schemes will be used to represent the ecological and chemical quality of the water environment. Due to the ecological focus of the Directive, biological monitoring will play an increased role in assessing the effects of human pressures on the water environment.
Throughout 2005, SEPA has continued to work in partnership with other agencies in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to develop the new biological monitoring tools that will be needed to assess ecological quality. Part of this development has involved SEPA collecting new monitoring information from many surface water bodies. Development is an ongoing process. Some of the new monitoring tools will become available for testing by SEPA staff during 2006, ready for use in 2007. Further development will continue in subsequent years.
SEPA has continued to work in partnership with other UK agencies to agree common principles that will underpin the new monitoring requirements. In Scotland, a group consisting of Scottish partner organisations with monitoring skills and experience has continued to meet to provide input to the implementation of the monitoring programme. The common UK principles have been trialled on several catchments throughout Scotland and are in the process of being applied to all water bodies. The detailed monitoring proposals will be discussed with partner organisations during 2006.
The joint statement on the UK's approach to developing environmental standards and conditions can be downloaded from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17316/ukadmins
UKTAG's report and external review can be accessed from: http://www.wfduk.org/stakeholder_reviews/
9 River Basin Management Planning
Most of Scotland falls into the Scotland River Basin District ( RBD). The rest lies in two cross-border RBDs: the Solway-Tweed and a fraction of the Northumbria district. The Executive will work closely with Defra to ensure consistency of approach in these cross-border districts.
The WEWS Act requires the production of a River Basin Management Plan ( RBMP) for each RBD in order to report the following:
- Environmental Objectives;
- Programmes of Measures to achieve the objectives;
- Monitoring Programmes;
- Protected Area Register;
- Heavily Modified and Artificial Water Body Register;
- Consultation and participation activities undertaken during plan production; and
- Responsible authorities involved in plan production.
Ministers set the policy framework for the development of the RBMP process, and will be responsible for approving the objectives set out in the plan. Under the WEWS Act, SEPA is responsible for the technical aspects of co-ordinating the river basin planning process in Scotland and producing plans for the Scotland RBD.
In December 2005, SEPA published their River Basin Planning Strategy for the Scotland RBD. This strategy has been informed by public consultation in 2003 and confirms how SEPA will take forward key areas of river basin planning. In particular the strategy sets out:
- Plans for the formation of a National Advisory Group and a comprehensive network of eight Area Advisory Groups and Advisory Group Fora to allow effective stakeholder contributions to the process at different levels and scales.
- The initial actions to be taken to co-ordinate river basin planning with a range of other important plans and planning processes across Scotland.
In 2006, SEPA will take forward the actions of the strategy with a range of partners. This will include, in particular, identifying and securing members for the National and Area Advisory Groups and providing information to help these members understand and contribute effectively to the river basin planning process. The responsible authorities that are designated in early 2006 will also have a major role in the planning process.
In addition, SEPA is working with the Environment Agency on a specific strategy document to inform work in the Solway-Tweed RBD, where the agencies share river basin planning duties. This document will clarify administrative arrangements and the co-ordination with other planning processes. The biggest challenge in this district will be to set out how the agencies will work effectively together to develop integrated systems for monitoring, reporting, regulation, data exchange and dissemination to the public.
Development of economic tools
The costs and benefits of improving the water environment need to be taken into account during the objective-setting process. The Directive provides flexibility to set alternative, less stringent, objectives where the achievement of environmental targets would be disproportionately expensive or technically infeasible. The Executive and SEPA therefore need to assess likely costs and benefits of different measures, to allow Ministers to determine where alternative objectives will need to be used.
The Executive currently supports a UK-wide Collaborative Research Programme involving all the UK administrations, environment agencies and industrial partners. The programme is developing guidance on the use of economic tools within the river basin planning framework, which will allow full weight to be given to economic arguments in the planning process. Guidance on tools for cost-effectiveness analysis will be developed during 2006, and will be used to develop policy principles that will ultimately define SEPA's role in making recommendations for objectives and measures in the River Basin Management Plan.
More information on river basin planning is available from SEPA's website at: http://www.sepa.org/wfd/rbmp/index.htm#strategy
10 Regulatory Framework
Controlled Activities Regulations
The Water Framework Directive introduces a risk-based approach to water resource management, and brings an ecological focus that needs a far wider range of activities to be regulated. The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 ( CAR), approved on 1 June 2005, establish a holistic framework to protect and manage our water resources, based on an assessment of the risk posed to the water environment. The Regulations cover all activities that abstract, impound or discharge water; modify the shape of a water body or are liable to cause point source or diffuse pollution.
The Controlled Activities Regulations are the product of close collaborative working, having been developed in partnership with key stakeholders, SEPA and other Executive departments. This participative process began in 2001 and has involved a number of consultations and a regular series of meetings and workshops with a wide range of water users and SEPA. Careful account has been taken of stakeholders' views on both the structure of the proposed regulatory regime and the costs of the proposals. Constructive comments from stakeholders have advised and streamlined development of the proposals, resulting in a solution that balances the needs of the wide range of water users, and is as simple and efficient as possible for all concerned.
Consequential Amendment Orders
The new CAR regime supersedes provisions under a range of existing legislation, including previous authorisations for abstractions or discharges. The Executive has therefore begun to review existing legislation that regulates activities impacting on the water environment, to align it with the provisions of the WEWS Act and CAR. This will simplify the legislation governing water use and also reduce the regulatory burden on water users.
During 2005, the first tranche of this affected legislation was identified, and proposals drafted to amend it in line with the requirements of the WEWS Act. This tranche includes a number of pieces of primary and secondary legislation, and in particular will result in amendments to the Electricity Act 1989, the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 and the repeal of most of the Control of Pollution Act ( CoPA) 1974 Part II.
The overriding objective of this work has been to integrate delivery of our water policy obligations with those of other policy areas, such as energy generation. The review has therefore involved considerable collaborative work with key stakeholders and support from colleagues in SEPA, other parts of the Executive and Whitehall. The review of the Electricity Act 1989 has sought to clarify the interaction between the Fisheries Committee and SEPA within the new WFD regime.
It is planned that Consequential Amendment Orders for this first tranche of legislation will come into force by 1 April 2006.
SEPA's role
2005 has been an important year for SEPA, who have the key role in delivering the provisions of CAR, including issuing and monitoring consents and authorisations, supporting water users to make the transition to the new regime and implementing an associated charging scheme to recover the costs of administration and monitoring.
SEPA made considerable efforts to communicate the requirements of CAR as widely as possible to water users, and especially to those operating previously unregulated activities. This included holding sector-specific conferences, attending local sector meetings, and placing advertisements and articles in trade publications.
Another key task for SEPA during 2005 was the production of policy and guidance to prepare staff and external operators for the new CAR regime. SEPA published the first version of the 'Levels of Authorisation' document, setting out the framework for operators of controlled activities to apply for a registration, simple licence or complex licence, and the thresholds between the tiers. This document was distributed to key stakeholders along with the charging scheme consultation (see section 11), to enable them to make informed judgements about the impact of the proposed charges.
CAR will come fully into force on 1 April 2006. A six-month transition period began on 1 October 2005 to allow holders of existing consents under other legislation (such as the Groundwater Regulations or Control of Pollution Act) to transfer into the CAR regime. SEPA established a transfer team specifically dedicated to the task of providing advice and processing applications during this period.
The regulatory framework established by CAR will provide valuable information to SEPA on the pressures and impacts on the water environment in Scotland. The information will be used to refine the characterisation of water bodies (see section 7) and in designing the strategic monitoring programme during 2006 (see section 8). The information will also feed into the development of River Basin Management Plans (see section 9), enabling SEPA to make more informed proposals for measures to deliver environmental targets, and to take into account the economic and social needs of existing water users.
The Controlled Activities Regulations can be seen at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2005/20050348.htm
The Policy Statement and Regulatory Impact Assessment can be seen at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/05/0995747/57481
More information about SEPA's implementation of CAR can be found at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/wfd/regimes/index.htm
11 Water Environment Charging Scheme
The Directive requires that the costs of delivering environmental objectives are recovered through charging. Recovery of the costs of WEWS regulation and monitoring functions will be made in line with the 'polluter pays' principle, through charges under the Controlled Activities Regulations. The Water Environment Charging Scheme will replace the charging schemes under the Control of Pollution Act ( CoPA) 1974, Groundwater Regulations 1998 and the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991.
SEPA is required to ensure that its charging schemes are fair and proportionate, and are delivered efficiently. Ministers have set the requirements for SEPA's work in delivering our WFD objectives and so have determined the costs to be recovered. These costs have also been independently audited. The charging scheme is the means of distributing the costs of implementing the WEWS Act fairly across different sectors. Engagement with stakeholders on the implementation of SEPA's plans has resulted in a reduction of £25 million in the estimated costs.
SEPA has balanced a number of competing demands in developing the proposals. Throughout 2005, SEPA has continued to work with water users on the development of the charging scheme in an iterative process. SEPA has attempted to keep the scheme as simple as possible while introducing factors that help to apportion costs fairly amongst the different sectors. This includes the premise that activities posing the greatest risk to the water environment should attract the highest charge.
Charges are being introduced in two stages. In May 2005, SEPA issued a consultation on proposals for a charging scheme for transfers into the CAR regime during the transitional period (see section 10). In October 2005, a consultation was issued on proposals for the main charging scheme.
SEPA continued to meet with the affected sectors throughout these consultations. In December 2005, during the second consultation period, SEPA proposed significant amendments to the charging scheme for irrigators, following meetings with the National Farming Union Scotland ( NFUS). The consultation closed on 30 December 2005, and Ministers are currently giving full consideration to the responses that have been received. Once Ministers have considered the responses and revised proposals, SEPA will issue guidance to explain the amendments to the charging scheme that are to be introduced following the consultation.
The consultation on the transitional charging scheme arrangements can be found at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/consultation/closed/2005/water_fees/waterenv_feescharges.pdf
The consultation on the full CAR charging scheme can be found at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/consultation/closed/2005/water_fees_06/water_env_charges_06.pdf
12 Remedial and Restoration Measures
Section 22 of the WEWS Act gives Scottish Ministers powers to make regulations about remedial or restoration measures needed to ensure that the environmental objectives in river basin management plans can be achieved. Remedial or restoration measures might include, for example, removing a redundant weir or lade or cleaning up historical pollution where these threaten the achievement of the environmental objectives for a given body of water.
A working group established in 2004 concluded that no immediate steps were needed.
We expect that progress will be made in 2006 in drawing up draft procedures for restoration and remedial works to be undertaken in relation to a variety of activities.
Focus on Agriculture
Over 70% of Scotland's area is devoted to agriculture. Much of this land is rough grazing, supporting sheep and cattle in upland areas, while intensive arable agriculture is generally limited to lowland regions. Agriculture is a significant employer and is vital in supporting our rural communities.
Land use and subsequent management play a fundamental role in the quality of Scotland's water environment. Since the 1950s, there have been substantial increases in agricultural outputs, both of crops and of livestock. Changes in agricultural production have involved increased fertiliser and pesticide inputs, as well as in some cases higher levels of soil loss. In turn, these changes have resulted in increased pressures on the water environment, largely through diffuse pollution.
Diffuse pollution, as a by-product of many activities, from the leaking of oil to the erosion of soil, has emerged as a significant risk to water quality. It has now overtaken the threat from point-source pollution, largely due to improved regulation of discharges. In 2005, SEPA's characterisation and impacts analysis for the Scotland RBD estimated that up to 43% of Scottish waterbodies are at risk through diffuse pollution. The report identified agriculture, and to some extent forestry, as the largest contributor to this diffuse pollution (see section 7). Scottish agriculture is estimated by SEPA to lose some 750,000 tons of soil, 45,000 tons of nitrate and 2,800 tons of phosphate per year through run-off and leaching.
Farmers and land managers are making important steps towards tackling diffuse pollution through changing management practices, such as nutrient budgeting and fencing off watercourses. The Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy ( CAP) gives greater emphasis to environmental objectives, including the protection of the water environment. Schemes such as the Rural Stewardship Scheme and the evolving system of Land Management Contracts provide support for farmers to take action that will help protect the water environment. Farmers have also participated in a number of catchment programmes, for example in the Tweed and the Aberdeenshire Dee. These have proved the benefits of co-operation and have shown impressive results in protecting and enhancing river water quality.
The Working Group on Diffuse Pollution, set up in 2004, reviewed the evidence available on the problem. The Group found that it would be difficult to develop a single strategy to tackle diffuse pollution from all sectors collectively. Agriculture had already been identified as a major contributor to diffuse pollution and the Executive took the view that a strategy for the control of diffuse pollution from rural land use should be a priority.
In December 2005, the Executive published a consultation paper, Diffuse Water Pollution from Rural Land Use, outlining a proposed strategy to tackle the problem. It reviews the issues, discusses current measures and proposes a control system in line with that of the Controlled Activities Regulations made under the WEWS Act.
Previous work with the Forestry Commission, NFU Scotland, the Scottish Agricultural College and SEPA has resulted in the publication of guidance on good practice such as the Forests and Water Guidelines, the PEPFAA Code, the 4 Point Plan and the Farm Soils Plan.
The consultation paper argues that a variety of actions are needed. Good practice guidance and education, incentives and the development of control measures are all component parts of a strategy, to be developed in partnership with stakeholders. Tackling diffuse pollution from rural land use is a significant challenge, and will require the Executive, SEPA, NFU Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland and individual farmers to work together in developing the guidelines needed to conserve and enhance the environment. Controlling the run-off of nutrients and sediments that poses a risk to the environment will not be easy or without cost, but much that is present practice is not sustainable.
The draft strategy, being consulted on, proposes a control system in line with that of the WEWS Act, starting with a 'light touch'. Land users who keep within the good practice of a set of General Binding Rules ( GBRs) will not need to register or to pay any charges. However, where these GBRs are insufficient to achieve water quality objectives, SEPA should have powers to require the registration of specified activities in the catchments found to be at risk. This would allow the application of targeted measures for particular activities in those catchments.
The Executive proposes to develop the GBRs, both national and targeted, in collaboration with farming and other interested parties over the course of the next year. At the same time, through Land Management Contracts ( LMCs), the Executive will be making incentives available to promote good practice aimed at environmental goals.
Although agriculture is the most significant cause of diffuse water pollution in Scotland, it is not always the most severe. A strategy for the control of diffuse pollution from sectors other than rural land use will be developed in 2006. This will help ensure that a full programme of measures for the control of diffuse pollution is in place by 2009, in line with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.
The consultation paper, Diffuse Water Pollution from Rural Land Use, can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/12/12152505/25059
13 Drinking Water Protected Areas
Section 6 of the WEWS Act requires Scottish Ministers to identify surface and ground water sources that are used to supply drinking water of more than 10 m3/day or for more than 50 people, and designate them as Drinking Water Protected Areas.
An initial exercise designated a number of areas used for public water supply, brewing and bottled water. At the time, insufficient data was available on private water supplies, which will therefore be designated when more accurate information becomes available. The Drinking Water Protected Areas Order was laid before Parliament in February 2005.
Around 150,000 people in rural Scotland rely on private water supplies for their drinking water. The Executive is working towards introducing regulations to meet the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive, and working with local authorities to establish a database of all private water supplies. The overriding objective of the Regulations is to ensure the provision of clean and wholesome water. They incorporate the latest advances to improve drinking water quality, including the use of risk assessments from 'source to tap' as part of an effective drinking water surveillance programme.
In March 2005, the Draft Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2005 and Proposals for a Private Water Supplies Grant Scheme were issued for consultation. Work is now underway to finalise the Regulations, taking into account the comments received during the consultation, and we anticipate that they will come into force during summer 2006. This work should then enable further accurate designations of private drinking water areas to be made in future.
Designation of water bodies used for public consumption is only one part of their protection. The Controlled Activities Regulations, which come into force on 1 April 2006 (see section 10), are a key tool for safeguarding the quality of all water in Scotland, including ensuring better protection for those bodies used for drinking water.
The Drinking Water Protected Areas Order can be viewed at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2005/20050088.htm
The consultation paper can be seen at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/20902/55270
14 Fixing of Charges for Water Services
Section 23 of the WEWS Act enables Ministers to make regulations about how charges for water services are made. This means that powers exist to regulate how charges are made by Scottish Water and any other supplier of 'water services', which includes the provision of water and sewerage, if needed to safeguard the water environment.
To date, we have not needed to use these powers and we are satisfied that arrangements included in the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 for charging for water services in Scotland comply with the requirements of Article 9 of the WFD about the recovery of costs for water services. In April 2006, Scottish Water will be designated as a responsible authority under the WEWS Act (see section 6), and therefore will be required to carry out its duties so as to ensure compliance with the WFD, including Article 9.
Neither the Directive nor the WEWS Act will force a move to domestic metering in Scotland.
Focus on Scottish Water - Future Investment
Scottish Water provides essential water and wastewater services to businesses and over 2.2 million homes. It is the fourth largest provider of water services in the UK and the sixteenth largest company in Scotland, and supports a considerable number of construction and engineering jobs. As well as its essential role in providing clean affordable drinking water and good sewerage services, the Scottish Water industry also plays an important role in the continuing improvement of Scotland's aquatic environment. Considerable recent investment in infrastructure has already led to improvements in drinking water quality, and significant reductions in pollution in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. Investment has also reduced instances of flooding, as well as providing better quality services for customers.
On 9 February 2005, Ministers announced to the Scottish Parliament the objectives they wish Scottish Water to meet in the next investment programme, Quality and Standards 3, which aims to deliver continued benefits to the environment and water users. This Programme will run from 2006 to 2014 and continue the work of modernising and improving the water and sewerage services in Scotland. The development of these objectives drew upon the findings of a number of working groups, work carried out by Scottish Water in its first draft business plan, and comments from water users in a consultation and public opinion surveys. The development process also included an assessment of the statutory requirements and key compliance dates established by the relevant EC legislation, including the Water Framework Directive.
The process for determining the next investment programme is underway in line with the arrangements put in place by the Scottish Parliament for the regulation of Scottish Water. Ministers set the public policy objectives - on outcomes and charging matters - for Scottish Water. The Water Industry Commission ( WIC) must ensure that Scottish Water's financial resources are not less than sufficient to enable it to meet Ministers' objectives at lowest reasonable overall costs, while ensuring that charges to customers rise by no more than inflation. Scottish Water is required to deliver the objectives within the financial limits set by the Commission. The Water Industry Commission published their final determination on 30 November 2005, setting out the level of funding available for the first part of the programme, from 2006-2010.
Investment in the environment is likely to represent one of the largest cost elements of Q & S 3. Other areas of the programme such as capital maintenance and sewer flooding will also have a positive impact on the environment. The investment objectives for the environment are to deliver improvements in the water quality of over 1,200 km of water bodies through a range of projects that include the upgrading of wastewater treatment works and addressing unsatisfactory discharges. The improvement in the quality of such discharges will contribute to fulfilment of the obligations under Section 22 of the WEWS Act for remedial and restoration measures (see section 12).
The scope of the legislation is such that investment made under the Drinking Water and Water Resources objective will improve the management of water resources and help to meet the requirements under Section 6 of the WEWS Act for drinking water protected areas (see section 13). The planned investment will help to reduce abstraction and increase compensation flows at drinking water sources in 78 water resource zones specified by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator, as well as putting in place protection measures, and providing flow metering and recording, at 574 drinking water sources.
More information about investment objectives and the Quality and Standards 3 process is at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/17583/PolicyStatements
15 Planning Permission: Fish Farming
Statutory planning controls do not currently extend 'out to sea', but stop at the mean low water mark of ordinary spring tide. Section 24 of the WEWS Act amends the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to provide for the introduction of statutory planning controls over marine fish farms. It allows the Scottish Ministers to make orders enabling planning authorities to discharge planning functions for such developments in transitional or coastal waters, out to three nautical miles. However, it does not apply to any other types of development offshore.
This is an enabling power - the extension of controls will come into force once appropriate secondary legislation has been approved by Parliament. This new regime will replace the current non-statutory scheme for development consents administered by the Crown Estate, which is sometimes considered to be lacking in transparency and democratic accountability. The new regime will also replace the statutory scheme of works licences for marine fish farms administered by Shetland Islands Council and Orkney Islands Council.
The extension of statutory planning controls will provide a more effective, transparent and democratically accountable system of regulation for marine fish farming proposals, at a local level. It will also provide more consistency with controls over associated land-based developments, including freshwater fish farms, which are already subject to control under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Our planning proposals were set out in a consultation paper, Extending Planning Controls to Marine Fish Farming, published in October 2004.
During 2005, the Executive has continued to engage with key stakeholders, including local authorities, business and environmental interests and regulators, on proposals to take forward workable and robust measures. This has been done bilaterally and through the Highlands and Islands Aquaculture Forum.
In June 2005, the summary of responses to the consultation was published. Responses were received from a wide range of stakeholders including the fish farming industry, local authorities, regulators and amenity/environment groups. We are currently considering these comments, which will help inform the development of proposals to introduce robust and workable planning controls with accompanying national planning policy on fish farming. The Executive's aim is to introduce secondary legislation into the Parliament in summer 2006 on current plans.
One of the main aims of extending planning controls to marine fish farms is to allow more local control over these developments. It is therefore necessary for the authorities charged with these statutory powers (including all relevant local authorities and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park when exercising its planning functions) to be aware of the geographical areas in which they are to exercise the controls. In October 2005, we published the consultation paper Defining Marine Boundaries for Fish Farming.
As set out in this consultation paper, the Executive also intends to extend planning powers to the territorial boundary - twelve nautical miles - through the provisions contained in the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill. This will ultimately mean that the provisions in the WEWS Act relating to marine fish farming will be removed and placed within planning legislation to facilitate a single regulatory regime across Scotland.
The consultation paper Extending Planning Controls to Marine Fish Farms is at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/planning/epcmff-00.asp
The consultation paper Defining Marine Boundaries for Fish Farming is at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/10/27171805/18052
16 Commencement Orders
Although the WEWS Act received Royal Assent in March 2003, a Commencement Order is needed to activate certain parts of the Act in order for each stage of implementation to go ahead. The first Commencement Order was made on 20 November 2003, to allow for the work that was due to be undertaken in 2004.
In 2005, several other sections of the Act were activated, most notably the parts relating to the preparation of River Basin Management Plans. Two Commencement Orders were laid, which came into force in early summer 2005.
The Commencement Orders can be found at:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2005/20050235.htm
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2005/20050256.htm
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