Entec Bulletin
Water Framework Directive

The Water Framework Directive has been described by Michael Meacher as “the most substantial piece ever of EC water legislation” and although this imposes significant duties on those within the water industry, the impact of this legislation will be much wider. All businesses that have discharge consents, trade effluent licences or water abstraction licences will be affected by this Directive, as will industry and agriculture more generally.

At the heart of the Directive is the development of a strategic management approach to ensure the protection and improvement of our inland and coastal waters. In this respect the Directive has a fundamental sustainability objective and to gauge the size of the task you need only to look at the time scale for implementation - up to 15 years from the Directive being adopted.

Under the Directive, Member States have to identify all the river basins lying in their national territory and designate a competent authority, likely to be the environment agencies in the UK, to be responsible for the protection and management of this area. River Management Plans
will then need to be developed by each competent authority to achieve objectives for surface waters and groundwater that must include resource status, chemical quality status and, for the first time, ecological status. Improvements will be required that may mean less water use and less pollution to water, both from direct discharges and diffuse sources including agriculture. The plans will require comprehensive chemical, environmental, economic and human-impact analysis to inform and shape the objectives.

Entec Director and water quality expert, Dr John Heathcote is clear about the importance of the Directive: "This legislation will be important, not only for its content but also for its approach - it assigns duties and responsibilities which will clearly help improve the condition of our water resources but also safeguards to ensure these improvements are sustainable".

UK Government estimates of the cost of implementing the Directive vary hugely. The total cost has been estimated at between £2.0 billion and £9.2 billion, with the majority of this being apportioned to improving water status (£1.9-£9.0 billion). For individual businesses, the costs could again vary considerably depending on the type of business and location. For example, the cost per annum for a typical textile business has been estimated at between £1700 and £6800 per annum but for a food processing business this would be between £900 and £2200 per annum. For agricultural businesses the costs could be much greater.

The Government is still in a process of consultation over the detail of the legislation required to enforce this Directive. What is clear is that the Water Framework Directive is providing considerable impetus to the task of improving and sustaining the condition of our inland waters and the scale of the legislation would indicate that early forward planning and preparation would be the wisest policy, especially for those who will feel the impact the greatest.

Major milestones in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive

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