Title: Challenges for the Environment Agency and Research
1Challenges for the Environment Agency and
Research
- Paul Logan - Water Framework Directive Programme
Manager
2Route map
- Introduction to the Directive
- Implementation processes Europe and England
Wales - Technical Challenges
- Technical Consultation
- Conclusions
3Introduction
- Purpose
- River Basin Planning
- Objectives
- Overview
- Programme of Measures
4The Directive
A complex environmental Directive
- Consists of
- 26 Articles (21 pages)
- 11 Annexes (51 pages)
Principles are simple, flexible and familiar
Welcomed by UK Agencies
5Purpose
Protect and enhance the status of the water
environment
Promote sustainable water use
6River Basin Planning Cycle
Identify water bodies at risk
Set appropriate environmental objectives and
design measures
Monitoring
Implement programmes of measures
Achieve objectives
7Status and Objectives
- Chemical elements
- specific pollutants (priority substances other
substances discharged in significant quantity - Biological elements
- fish, invertebrates, algae, macrophytes
- Physico-chemical elements
- e.g. thermal conditions, oxygenation, nutrients,
acidification - Supporting hydromorphological elements
- e.g. hydrological regime, river continuity and
morphology
8Ecological Objectives
9Overview
10Programme of measures
- Current regime of discharge and abstraction
control will continue - Programme of measures requires use of measures
under other directives - e.g. Urban Waste-water treatment, Nitrates, IPPC
etc - Will require additional measures to achieve Good
status - e.g. economic instruments, codes of good
practice, recreation and restoration of
wetlands,control of diffuse pollution - Integration of planning
- Catchment Abstraction Management, Flood Defence
Catchment Management,
11Implementation
- Timescales
- Common Implementation Strategy
- UK Implementation
- River Basin Districts
- Environment Agency Programme
12River Basin Planning Requirements
13Common Implementation Strategy -
14Developing the process - Common Implementation
Strategy
15UK Implementation
Department of Environment Food
Scottish Executive
Department of Environment
Rural Affairs
Northern Ireland
Welsh Assembly Government
Environment Heritage Service
Environment Agency
SEPA
Northern Ireland
Scottish Natural Heritage
English Nature, CCW
DEFRA Implementation Steering group
Departments from English Welsh Ministries
Agencies from England Wales
Representatives from Scotland and North Ireland
UK Technical Advisory Group
Co-ordination of technical advice for UK
administrations
Environment Agency
Scottish Natural Heritage
Environment Heritage Service
English Nature
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Republic of Ireland, Ministry of Environment
16WFD Boundaries
- CAMS, LEAPS etc.
- cross border boundaries
- Agency other boundaries
17Water Framework Directive Programme Projects
18Technical Challenges
- Characterisation
- Typology
- Reference Conditions
- Pressures
- Monitoring
- Risk analysis
- Validation
- Classification
- Surface Waters
- Groundwaters
- Intercalibration
19Characterisation -Categories and Typology
- Water Body Categories
- Rivers, Lakes, transitional and coastal waters
- Wetlands ?
- Subject of a new EU working group
- No environmental objectives ?
20Characterisation -Typology
- Water Body Types
- How many types are required ?
- Sufficient to identify natural differences in
ecological communities. - Allows description of type specific reference
condition - Provides a simple reporting format for the
directive. - Relates to Programme of Measures
- Factors
- Obligatory (Geology, Size, Altitude)
- Optional (Substrate, Distance from source)
- Types and Biological Elements
21Characterisation - Reference Conditions
- Represents a state of no, or only very minor
change. - The standard for reference conditions must take
account of an appropriate vision for Good
ecological status - Purpose of the Directive is to promote
sustainable use of the water environment, not to
return it to pristine conditions. - Need to strike a balance
- We cant set targets based on current activity,
but we also cannot take our reference criteria
from a landscape that bears no comparison with
modern Britain.
22Characterisation - REFCOND draft guidance
- A state prior to or without intensive
agriculture, extensive air-borne industrial
pollution, significant water abstraction and
significant morphological change. - Suggest a flexible temporal bench mark which
reflects a significant step-change in for example
the intensity of land-use. - Could include morphological change if result has
negligible effect on ecological structure and
function
23Characterisation - Reference Conditions Methods
- Spatial network
- May not exist, at least for some water body types
- Predictive models
- RIVPACS approach uses environmental
characteristics to predict invertebrate community
in rivers - Hindcasting nutrients in lakes from land-use
using export coefficient and simple lake models - Temporal data
- historical data
- paleoreconstruction
- Expert Judgement
24Characterisation -Pressures Impacts
- Assess risk from human activity
- Potential pressures
- Potential effects
- Characteristics of water bodies
- Susceptibility to pressures
- Probability of effects from pressures
- Risk of failing objectives
25Monitoring
- To provide a coherent comprehensive overview of
water status within the River Basin District and
permit the classification of surface water bodies
into one of five classes. - Not all water bodies need to be monitored
- 3 levels of monitoring
- Surveillance
- Operational
- Investigative
26Surveillance monitoring
- Sufficient water bodies included to provide an
assessment of the overall surface water status
Supplement validate risk assessment - Assessment of long term change
- Covers all quality elements
- Provide information for efficient and effective
design of future monitoring
27Operational monitoring
- Establish the status of those water bodies
identified as being at risk of failing to meet
their environmental objectives - Will provide data for Environmental Quality
Ratios - Assess any changes in the status of such bodies
resulting from the programme of measures - Monitor elements most sensitive to the pressures
on water body - Sufficient sites to assess magnitude and impact
of pressure
28Investigative monitoring
- Reasons for failure (of Environmental Objectives)
is unknown - Ascertain cause of water body failure
- Magnitude and impact of pollution incidents
29Monitoring hierarchy
30Classification
- Surface Water Status assessed using
- Ecological Status and
- Chemical (pollutant) Status.
- Ecological Status lower of
- Biological
- benthic invertebrates, aquatic flora, fish
- composition, abundance, biomass, diversity, age
class etc. - is reference based (observed versus expected)
- Or Physico-chemical elements
- oxygen regime, salinity
- Not -Hydromorphological
- flow, level, physical structure
31Classification Normative definitions e.g. lakes
in High Status
- Phytoplankton - 3 Biological quality elements
- taxonomic composition and abundance of
phytoplankton corresponds totally or nearly
totally to undisturbed conditions - average phytoplankton biomass is consistent with
the type specific physico-chemical conditions and
is not such as to significantly alter the
type-specific transparency - Planktonic blooms occur at a frequency
intensity which is consistent with the type
specific physico-chemical conditions - Need to develop methods that measure these
attributes - Functional taxa, Chlorophyll a, Secchi disc,
incidence of surface algal scums ? - Need numeric measures if EQR is to be calculated
32Classification - High/Good/Moderate Boundary
- Critical Boundaries
- Currently still insufficient information on how
this will be determined - Guidance from REFCOND is suggesting that Pressure
criteria in combination with sensitivity are used
to set boundaries - Agency view is that Good status should reflect
sustainable water use - Agency consultation is currently asking for
examples of sites that are in either High or Good
status and reasons for selection
33Uncertainty and Classification
- In decision making it is imperative to be aware
of how uncertain we are when making a decision. - The status of water bodies will be determined
from monitoring and thus from sampled data. - This must be compared with a reference condition
to calculate an Environmental Quality Ratio - Error is associated with both the sampled
(Observed) data the Reference condition. These
errors do not cancel, it is closer to the sum of
the errors in Observed Reference. - It is thus important to minimise the variability
in the Reference condition. (In practice it is
likely to be assumed to be error free)
34Classification - Groundwater Status
Inputs of of pollutants prevented or limited.
Drinking Water protected
35Intercalibration
- Intention that Good status should represent the
same level of biological quality across Europe - Benchmarking exercise to be completed by 2006
using a register of IC sites
Requires selection of sites at the boundary by
2004 (draft list of sites by 2003) Monitoring
does not start until 2006 and most MS have still
to develop their classification tools No
requirement to Intercalibrate Physico-chemical
36Good status for all waters ?
- Artificial or Heavily Modified water bodies
- Good Ecological Potential (GEP) rather than Good
Ecological Status (GES) - Numerous examples
- Impounded rivers creating lakes, lakes created by
human activity - Canalised rivers
37Technical Consultation
- The Water Framework Directive - Guiding
principles on the technical requirements - Annex II and V
- waterframeworkdirective_at_environment-agency.gov.uk
- end of September 2002
38Consultation Issues
- Water Bodies
- Surface Water Classification
- Heavily Modified Artificial Water Bodies
- Groundwater Classification
- Review of Human Impacts
- Monitoring requirements
39Conclusions
- Directive will change the nature of water
management policy for many years - Focus on Ecology
- Builds on what we already do
- It should provide for harmonisation across Europe
- Require new approaches in Programmes of Measures
- The Environment Agency welcomes the opportunity
to work with others to overcome them.
40Challenges for the Environment Agency and
Research
- Paul Logan - Water Framework Directive Programme
Manager