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Introduction
The Water Industry Commissioner has been established under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1999. The Commissioner's functions include advising the Scottish Executive about water and sewerage charges. This advice will normally cover a period of up to five years. It will emerge from a process of analysis of, and consultation about, the requirements placed on the water authorities and the means by which they can best be met. In light of immediate timing constraints, the Executive has asked for initial advice to cover a transitional period from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2002. This advice is required by the end of this year.
In framing his advice, the Commissioner is required to have regard to a number of factors, the most significant being the standards of drinking water quality and environment protection that the authorities need to meet, and the cost to them of doing so. The paper:
There are several areas where standards, particularly for the period beyond March 2002, have yet to be settled. Until the water authorities know what will be required of them in these areas, their investment estimates necessarily remain broad brush and are likely to be revised upwards as uncertainties are resolved and requirements are clarified.
Background
Over 90% of Scottish consumers are connected to the water and sewerage systems operated by Scotland's 3 public water authorities. These systems have their origins in the 19th Century, when networks of water mains and sewers were laid in Scotland's cities and towns. Their introduction did much to improve public health in Victorian Scotland. In more recent times they have suffered from considerable neglect and underinvestment. As a result, the Water Authorities face a major challenge in meeting standards set by Ministers and in EU Directives, and in satisfying the expectations of an increasingly demanding public.
In the period covered by the Commissioner's advice they will be working to deliver a range of improvements in the quality of drinking water and in the disposal of wastewater. They will be doing so in consultation with the Scottish Executive, in its capacity as the regulator of drinking water quality, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as the body responsible for controlling the discharge of treated wastewater into the environment.
The majority of improvements described in the paper are more or less inescapable if requirements of various EU Directives are to be satisfied, and for the foreseeable future they are the main drivers of the water authorities' investment programmes. A number of other initiatives, in response to Scotland's particular circumstances, have also been included on the basis of sound scientific evidence and taking account of the balance of benefits and costs in each case.
Drinking Water Supply and Distribution
There are three factors driving improvements in the quality and delivery of drinking water:
The 1998 Drinking Water Directive. This Directive will not result in major changes to most existing drinking water quality standards, though it will require changes in the regime to monitor compliance with its provisions. However, in response to the public health risk posed by lead and the desirability of removing trihalomethanes (THMs), it will set tighter standards for the presence of these substances in drinking water. In recognition that this will require a significant amount of work, it sets interim standards to be applied in both cases from 2003, with final standards to be achieved later.
The Direction on Cryptosporidium Cryptosporidium is a parasite that infects humans and animals, causing severe diarrhoea. The Badenoch and Bouchier reports made recommendations to reduce the risk of it contaminating the water supply. Under this Direction, the water authorities are required to implement an approach based on assessing the risk of, and taking precautionary steps to limit, contamination by the end of 2000.
The Development of Pipeline Renewal Strategies. Many water quality and supply problems, including low water pressure, discoloured water and bursts, are the result of past neglect of the mains infrastructure. The Scottish Executive believes that a renewal programme of between 1% and 2% of the network each year should be the medium term aim for the water authorities, and that any authority not achieving this should at least ensure that its programme is on a rising trend. A programme on this scale should maintain the standard of the infrastructure, but water authorities will also need to develop other programmes if the antiquated infrastructure is to be modernised.
Benefits Working to deliver these improvements will result in purer drinking water, posing less of a risk to public health and a more reliable network for delivering it to customers.
Costs The best current estimated cost (in £m) of the investments on drinking water are:
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2000/2001 |
2001/2002 |
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185 |
235 |
Longer term investment is expected to be in the order of £1bn over the next 10 years.
Sewerage, Sewage Treatment and Sewage Sludge
A number of EU Directives and other statutory requirements are driving improvements in the treatment of wastewater:
The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. This Directive deals with the general standards for collecting, treating and disposing of waste water into rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. It requires the water authorities to provide secondary treatment of waste water into such waters from larger discharges by the end of 2000. For smaller discharges this, or other forms of appropriate treatment, is required by the end of 2005. The Directive also requires improvements to the systems for collecting sewage to the same timescale. Compliance with these requirements will lead to major improvements in the quality of waters into which discharges are made and in many cases will also satisfy the more specific requirements of the Bathing Waters, Shellfish and other associated Directives.
The Bathing Waters Directive. This requires the identification, monitoring and reporting of compliance with the mandatory standards set by the EU for bathing waters. Bacteria are considered to be the main pollutant. Discharges from water authority sewage treatment works are a major source of this pollution; other sources include farm run-off. Improvements to sewer and treatment systems required under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive will also help meet the standards set in this Directive. If problems persist the Scottish Executive will require the water authorities to take additional action.
Surface Water Abstraction Directive. This Directive sets standards for the quality of surface waters being abstracted for the public water supply. It is not expected to have any impact on the water authorities in the period to be covered by the Commissioner's advice.
Freshwater Fish Waters Directive. This Directive seeks to protect and improve the quality of fresh water in order to support fish life. SEPA has been working with the water authorities in reviewing consents for discharges affecting designated waters. Additional investment may be required if consents are made more stringent as a result of this review.
Shellfish Waters Directive. This Directive requires designation of shellfish waters which need protection or improvement. Scotland currently has 22 designated shellfish waters. The Scottish Executive is currently consulting on a proposal to designate 14 more waters. SEPA is working with the water authorities to produce statutory improvement programmes, review discharge consents and adjust standards as necessary. As a result, modest additional investment by the water authorities is likely to be required.
Sewage Sludge. The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive requires sludge to be reused whenever appropriate and for disposal routes to minimise adverse affects on the environment. The most favoured option is to reuse sludge on agricultural land, with incineration, land reclamation, forestry and landfilling the other main options for disposal. The Scottish Executive is committed to ending all uses of untreated sewage sludge on farmland by the end of 2001. The water authorities have confirmed that they will meet this deadline.
Other Statutory Requirements. There are other discharge consents made under the Control of Pollution Act 1974, particularly those to inland rivers. SEPA is working with the water authorities in reviewing consents in this area to eliminate poor and grossly polluted waters and the protection of excellent and good quality waters. SEPA has targets for improving the aquatic environment by 2000 and, provisionally, 2005, based on their assessment of the work required to improve the water quality of rivers, estuaries, lochs and coastal waters. This may require water authority discharge consents to be made more stringent to allow for these improvements. The predicted improvements up to the year 2000 are based on investments already agreed with dischargers. In the case of targets for 2005, SEPA will discuss these with the dischargers in the public and private sector.
Infrastructure renewals (asset maintenance). In common with the water supply system, much of the sewerage system is old, and many parts of it are not suited to the demands now being placed on it. This gives rise to problems such as sewer collapses and flooding. The authorities should develop an integrated sewer network management approach to deliver improvements to the system at the least possible cost. There is also demand to extend the public wastewater network where there are development constraints, or where the environment is particularly threatened by the current provision of private systems.
Water Authorities' Local Initiatives (non statutory). The water authorities each have clean water initiatives, which aim to ensure that the authorities' efforts at enhancing the quality of the aquatic environment support and complement community based initiatives on environmental improvements. Thus, in some cases, the authorities will go beyond the standards of treatment demanded of them by regulation, in order to achieve a valuable improvement in water quality that is important to wildlife, or enhances bathing waters. Because of the resource pressures of meeting statutory deadlines, the authorities have only limited programmes in this area.
Water Framework Directive. Negotiations are currently taking place within the European Community on a new Directive which would provide an over-arching legislative framework for the protection and improvement of the water environment and water resources. The detail of the Directive is still under discussion, but it could come into force in 2000. However, the current estimate is that any impact upon water authority customers' bills would be some years in the future.
Benefits Working to comply with these requirements will contribute towards the elimination of poor and grossly polluted inland waters, estuaries and coastal waters, providing improved water quality at the main freshwater fish and shellfish sites, increased water resources for abstraction, recreational use, and the development of tourism. Where sewage sludge is recycled to farmland this is more environmentally sustainable, and many sewer flooding problems will be resolved leading to fewer sewer collapses and fewer capacity problems that hinder development.
Costs The best current estimate of the capital cost (in £m) of these investments is:
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2000/2001 |
2001/2002 |
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165 |
155 |
Overall costs. The best current estimate (in £m) of the combined costs of improvements to drinking water quality and environment protection is:
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2000/2001 |
2001/2002 |
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350 |
390 |
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