NRA TKciw?*, 703 BRENT & CRANE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN CONSULTATION REPORT NATIONAL RIVERS AUTHORITY MISSION STATEMENT: We will protect and improve the water environment by the effective management of water resources and by substantial reductions in pollution. We will aim to provide effective defence for people and property against flooding from rivers and the sea. In discharging our duties we will operate openly and balance the interests of all who benefit from and use rivers, groundwaters, estuaries, and coastal waters. We will be business like, efficient and caring towards our employees. environment■llr AGENCY 0 6 8 6 3 3 BRENT AND CRANE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN - CONSULTATION REPORT CONTENTS LIST Section Page CONTENTS LIST 1 LIST OF MAPS 3 LIST OF TABLES 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/NOTE 4 DRAFT CATCHMENT VISION FOR THE BRENT AND CRANE 5 1 MANAGING THE WATER ENVIRONMENT 1 Our Water Environment 8 The NRA Role 8 Sustainable Catchment Management 9 Catchment Management Plans 11 The Consultation Report 11 The Consultation Process 13 2 DESCRIPTION OF RESOURCES, USES AND ACTIVITIES 15 2.1 Catchment Overview 16 2.2 Local Management 18 2.3 Geology and Soils 26 2.4 Hydrology oo 2.5 Ecology 33 2.6 Fisheries 39 2.7 Landscape and Heritage 42 2.8 Navigation and Boating 45 2.9 Amenity and Recreation 48 2.10 Water Abstraction 51 2.11 Sewerage and Effluent Disposal 54 2.12 Land Use 56 2.13 Flood Defence 61 2.14 Mineral Extraction and Waste Disposal 66 3 . STATUS OF THE WATER ENVIRONMENT 69 3.1 Water Quality - Surface Water__ _ _70 Water Quality - Pollution Incidents 78 Water Quality - Groundwater 80 3.2 Water Resources 83 3.3 Physical Features 85 NRA Thames Region 1 Brent & Crane CMP BRENT AND CRANE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN - CONSULTATION REPORT CONTENTS (Continued) Section Page 4 CATCHMENT ISSUES 89 4.1 Introduction 90 4.2 Water Quality Urban Run-off 93 - Sewage 94 - Algae in Canals, Rivers and Reservoirs 95 - Contaminated Land - Potential to Pollute Ground and Surface Water 96 - Oil 97 4.3 Channels and Flows - Man Made Materials 98 - Culverting 99 - Invasive Plant Species 100 River Flows 101 4.4 Land Use - Heathrow Airport - Terminal 5 102 Government and European Funding 103 Drainage Policy 104 4.5. Amenity and Recreation Improvement of Recreational Facilities 105 4.6 Litter Litter and Rubbish 106 4.7 Information and Communication Public Awareness 107 - Signage 108 4.8 The Brent Reservoir Future Management of the Reservoir 109 4.9 Management of Flood Risk Main River Revisions 110 Flooding in Parts of the Catchments 111 Provision of New Flood Alleviation Works 112 - Maintenance Works 113 4.10 Fish Management - Fish Management 114 APPENDIX I - ORGANISATION RESPONSIBILITIES AND 116 NRA AIMS AND STRATEGIES APPENDIX II - REPORT ON INFORMAL LIAISON 125 APPENDIX III - SUPPORTING INFORMATION 121 APPENDIX IV - GLOSSARY 136 APPENDIX V - ORGANISATIONS CONSULTED 139 NRA Thames Region 2 Brent & Crane CMP BRENT AND CRANE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN - CONSULTATION REPORT LIST OF MAPS Pape Groundwater Protection 81 LIST OF TABLES 1. Key Statistics tor the Catchments 18 2. Distribution of the Catchments Area and Population by Local Authority 18 3. Existing Strategies 24 4. Brent Flow Gauging Stations ' 30 5. Crane Flow Gauging Stations 32 6. Brent and Crane Abstractions 52 7. SRB Bids for the Brent and Crane Catchments _ _ 58 8. Rural Land Uses within the Catchments 60 9. Description of the Five River EcosysFem Classes 70 10. Pollution Incidents in the Brent and Crane 79 11. Catchment Issues - Which Rivers do they Affect? 92 12. Biological Monitoring Results 128 13_______ . River Ecosystem Classification: Water Oualitv_Criteria___________________130 14. General Quality Assessment: Chemical Grading for Rivers and Canals 130 15. Bacteriological Quality - Brent and Crane Catchments 131 16. Who docs what in the NRA 135 NRA Thames Region 3 Brent & Crane CMP BRENT AND CRANE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN - CONSULTATION REPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (1) All those organisations, groups and individuals who responded to the NRA during the period of informal liaison. A detailed review of this process is given in Appendix II. (2) Ordnance Survey on whose maps some of the information shown on the synoptic maps is based. (Crown Copyright Reserved Licence No. WU29859X). NOTE (1) Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information in this report, it may contain errors or omissions which we will be pleased to correct. (2) Information from this report may be freely used provided it is acknowledged. NRA Thames Region 4 Brenl & Crane CMP DRAFT CATCHMENT VISION FOR THE BRENT AND CRANE The urbanised nature of the Brent and Crane catchments dictates the problems and issues that affect the water environment. Whilst it is unlikely that the balance of land uses will change significantly, future land use management will provide opportunities to enhance the water environment. At present both the Brent and Crane catchments have predominately poor and fair water quality respectively which affects the ecological and recreational benefit that can be gained from the rivers, streams and canals. It is therefore essential that in order to breathe new life into the catchments, water quality issues should take the highest priority and form the key objective for the catchments. In trying to solve the problems within the catchments the NRA must have the full support of the community. Without educating and informing the public of our ideas for future management, little practical benefit may ever be achieved. In order to achieve this plan’s vision of a healthy water environment for the Brent and Crane catchments, the following five objectives will need to be tackled: • Identify sources of pollution within Ifie catchments and concentrate initial investigations on both the Mutton and Wealdstone Brooks. • Continue to provide adequate flood protection for the public and look at the feasibility of future schemes on the Edg ware and Deans Brook. • Promote and enhance recreational opportunities upon the rivers, Grand Union Canal and Bt'ent Reservoir, where it is appropriate to do so. • Seek opportunities to enhance stretches of visually and ecologically degraded river channels and corridors. This is especially relevant to the redevelopment of the Brent Cross Centre and possible development of Heathrow Airport. • Work in partnership with various Local Agenda 21 initiatives and community groups to develop new ideas and initiatives for the future. This is a draft catchment vision which will be developed further after the consultation process. The version that will appear in the Action Plan may include targets for achieving these five objectives. NRA Thames Region 5 Brent & Crane CMP SECTION 1 MANAGING THE WATER ENVIRONMENT The purpose of this section is to highlight the importance of integrated management of the water environment and to outline the key role of the NRA. It describes the Catchment Management Planning process and the purpose of this Consultation Report. NRA Thames Region 7 Brent & Crane CMP 1 MANAGING THE WATER ENVIRONMENT Our Water Environment The quality of our water environment and the way in which it is managed matters to all of us. Our health depends on the availability and purity of water supplies, and the way we dispose of waste water. Thames Region is highly populated and has the greatest use and reuse of water of any part of the country. These pressures call for the careful management of water abstraction and effluent disposal. Many householders and businesses rely on flood alleviation works and flood warning schemes to reduce the risk of flooding. Visitors, as well as local communities, benefit from the amenity and recreational opportunities offered by the Region’s rivers, canals and lakes. The water environment also supports a wide variety of habitats which are home to a range of plants and animals. Conservation and enhancement of these is fundamental to the well being of the Region’s natural resources. This document is a first step in the process called Catchment Management Planning, initiated by the National Rivers Authority (NRA). It provides a focus for those concerned with the future health of the catchments of the Brent and Crane rivers. A catchment being a discrete geographical unit based on natural surface water drainage areas. The NRA Role Established in 1989, the NRA is the principal agency responsible for safeguarding and improving the water environment in England and Wales, with statutory responsibilities for: water resources, water quality, pollution control, flood defence, fisheries, recreation, conservation and navigation. The Environment Agency will come into being during 1996, drawing together the responsibilities of the NRA, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) and Waste Regulation Authorities. The Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer, has said of the Agency that: "It will, first of all need to take an integrated approach to providing effective environmental protection, integrated to take account of impacts on air, water and land and integrated geographically so that interconnected systems such as river catchments are considered as a whole". The NRA anticipate that the Catchment Management Planning process will continue to play an important role within the new Environment Agency. The NRA have placed particular emphasis on planning for environmental sustainability through an integrated approach to river catchment management. Inherent to the success of this approach is the need to work closely with local communities, industry, landowners, interest groups and other agencies whose activities and interests interact with the water environment. NRA Thames Region 8 Brent & Crane CMP 1 MANAGING THE WATER ENVIRONMENT Sustainable Catchment Management Environmental sustainability requires development needs to be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This requires a full consideration of environmental, social and economic issues during the decision making process. This is an approach that has been backed by the Rio Earth Summit, European Union and the UK Government.