Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/476851
16 | 13th - 19th March 2015 | UtILItY WEEK Policy & Regulation Market view M aintaining water security requires effective regulation. We need enough to drink and enough to use in our homes and businesses. We also need enough for our green and pleasant land to thrive, and for our rivers, canals, lakes, ponds, estuaries and coastal waters to pro- vide healthy ecosystems for aquatic and aquatic- dependent plants and animals. All this, while also managing the risks asso- ciated with climate change, population growth, public health (water-borne epidem- ics), flood, drought and pollution. However, few people (both the public and many working in the water sector) have a real awareness of how the water regula- tory system works, how water environmental policy is derived and becomes law, and how the law is implemented to deliver intended policy outcomes. All this has been some- thing of a hidden art, practised efficiently and effectively by regulatory agencies, and largely below the radar. Today we live in troubled times. The twin threats of climate change and population growth demand that we increase our aware- ness of the importance to all of us of water quality, and in particular that of environmen- tal water. We need to have in place long-term sustainable water planning and measures to ensure we continue to have enough water available for all our various uses. The industrial revolution and subsequent population growth significantly harmed many of the UK's natural waters. Science and engineering were successfully used to ensure that most people had access to wholesome water for drinking, but far less effort was directed at protecting the environment from which that water is sourced. Economic growth resulted in unsustain- able practices that polluted and degraded many of our rivers, streams, lakes, ground- waters, canals, estuaries and coastal waters. Effective water pollution control legislation came into place only in the 1950s, and UK law has ratcheted tighter since then, par- ticularly as a beneficial consequence of EU membership. Environmental water quality has signifi- cantly improved from a low starting point, due to a combination of effective regulation and market forces constraining extractive and manufacturing industries, but is not yet near fully complying with agreed EU targets. Much of our water environmental law now is based on pan-European directives, the nego- tiation and agreement of which has been a major function of successive governments. The targets are rightly challenging, par- ticularly where historic malpractice, pursuit of profit and government indifference have resulted in pollution. Continuing heavy metal pollution of many watercourses and groundwaters by abandoned mines is a case in point. As is soil erosion and nutri- ent enrichment from industrialised farming practice. Water is so important that there has been a bewildering array of government interven- tions in the industry that surrounds it, gen- erated over different timescales and oen to different imperatives. The lay person and the seasoned pro- fessional oen have difficulty in tracking down what is the relevant government water policy, law, and means of regulatory deliv- ery, and how they fit together, let alone how effective these interventions have been. Sur- prisingly, given the widespread availability of information technology, there has been no ready accessible reference of EU and UK water environmental law, and how it is implemented. Recognising this gap, and to address at least the water quality aspects of it, the Foundation for Water Research (FWR) recently commissioned a small group of experts to revise and update a knowledge exchange report on the regulation of water quality in the EU that had initially been pro- duced for the EU/China river basin planning programme. The resulting book is now avail- able in hard copy from FWR – it is also avail- able in digital format. This not-for-profit publication, supported by Atkins Global, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Stockholm International Water Institute and Cranfield University, is designed to be a quick reference guide to European and UK regulation of water qual- ity. The electronic book links directly to hundreds of original UK and EU documents, providing relevant policy, legal and technical detail. While this book is a starting point for improving understanding of water quality regulation, there is a longer-term need to increase teaching of water policy and asso- ciated regulatory issues in UK universities. Acknowledging this weakness in the pipeline of future expertise on water policy, FWR and Cranfield University are working together to develop a short CIWEM-accredited training course on water quality planning and regu- lation based on the book. Once in place, the course will be easily transferable to other countries in need of this expertise. Chris Chubb, Environmental Policy Consultant A regulated environment Mastering knowledge of the regulation of water quality in the UK is a complex and opaque discipline. But Chris Chubb says clarification is at hand. TM Water policy in the spotlight The implications of developments in water planning and quality regulation, espe- cially those arising from abstraction and upstream reform, will be addressed in the free to attend water theatre at Utility Week Live 21-23 April. Find out more at: www.utilityweeklive.co.uk/water Testing times: regulation has evolved piecemeal