River Basin Management Planning Overview Annex
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Consultation on updating the River Basin Management Plan River Basin Management Planning Overview Annex Date 1 Our purpose is to ensure that the natural resources of Wales are sustainably maintained, used and enhanced, now and in the future We will work for the communities of Wales to protect people and their homes as much as possible from environmental incidents like flooding and pollution. We will provide opportunities for them to learn, use and benefit from Wales' natural resources We will work for Wales' economy and enable the sustainable use of natural resources to support jobs and enterprise. We will help businesses and developers to understand and consider environmental limits when they make important decisions. We will work to maintain and improve the quality of the environment for everyone. We will work towards making the environment and natural resources more resilient to climate change and other pressures. Page 2 of 102 www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Contents 1. Introduction to this document .......................................................................... 4 2. Managing the water environment ..................................................................... 6 2.1 Water – a vital resource ............................................................................................. 6 2.2 The policy context ...................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Natural Resources Wales’s role in managing the water environment ...................... 16 3 The Water Framework Directive ......................................................................... 20 3.1 The Water Framework Directive ............................................................................... 20 3.2 River basin management planning ........................................................................... 29 3.3 Working with others .................................................................................................. 30 3.4 Working at the catchment scale and integrated natural resources management ..... 31 3.5 River basin management planning timetable ........................................................... 35 3.6 Updating the plans in 2015 ....................................................................................... 36 3.7 Assessments of the river basin management plan ................................................... 37 4. Defining and describing the water environment ........................................... 40 4.1 River basin districts and water bodies ...................................................................... 40 4.2 Assessing the current state of the water environment .............................................. 44 4.3 Changes since first cycle (new building blocks) ....................................................... 49 4.4 Challenges ............................................................................................................... 50 5. Identifying measures and objectives ................................................................ 62 5.1 The environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive............................. 62 5.2 How we have identified local (water body) measures............................................... 63 5.3 Setting water body objectives ................................................................................... 66 5.4 Screening for alternative objectives .......................................................................... 67 5.5 Economic appraisal .................................................................................................. 75 5.6 Further information for protected areas - shellfish waters ........................................ 80 5.7 Next steps – developing our ambition and programme of measures ....................... 80 6. Summary of Engagement ................................................................................... 83 6.1 Public access to information ..................................................................................... 83 6.2 Consultations ........................................................................................................... 84 6.3 Forward Look 2014-2015 ......................................................................................... 85 7. Glossary .............................................................................................................. 86 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 100 Page 3 of 102 www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk 1. Introduction to this document The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides the main framework for managing the water environment throughout Europe. At its heart is an ecosystem approach that requires measures to be taken to encourage the sustainable use of water and to protect and improve inland surface waters, ground waters and coastal waters, with the aim of achieving good status. It recognises that interested groups need to work together to design and implement improvements, taking a holistic and integrated approach to managing the water environment. Under the Water Framework Directive, a management plan must be developed for each river basin district. Natural Resources Wales, as competent authority for implementing the Water Framework Directive in Wales, first published these in December 2009. The river basin management plans (the plans) outlined the actions that would need to be taken so that more waters were at good status by 2015 and what needed to be investigated to test whether all waters could justifiably achieve this by 2027. The plans and the objectives and measures contained within them must be reviewed and updated every six years; therefore updated plans for each river basin district in Wales are due to be published in December 2015. The purpose of this consultation Natural Resources Wales, working with others, started the process of updating the current plans in 2012. This consultation presents draft updates to the plans. There are two main documents that form the consultation on the draft update to the river basin management plans. These are: Draft river basin management plan and consultation questions This sets out the current state of the river basin district, the challenges it faces and the future objectives and measures that might apply. The consultation questions ask you to give your response to the choices available. There are three of these documents for Wales, the Dee and Western Wales are led by NRW and the Severn is led by the EA. The river basin management planning overview annex (this document) This document sets out the detail behind the decision making which has shaped this draft update to the river basin management plan. It explains each step of the process, linking to more detailed information where appropriate. It allows the reader to find the level of detail required to respond to the consultation. The data and information used to develop this consultation are the result of work undertaken before the end of May 2014. Additional data and information provided in response to this consultation, the ongoing river basin management processes, any further advice from Ministers on the use of Water Framework Directive exemptions will be used to produce the updated plans in 2015. Page 4 of 102 www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Supporting information The following data for every water body in Wales is available on Water Watch Wales: 2013 status assessments Reasons for not achieving good status Proposed long term objectives Reasons for alternative status objectives 1.1 What this document covers The next section, Managing the water environment describes why water is such an important resource and summarises the policies, both European and domestic, which shape how the water environment in Wales is managed. The Water Framework Directive (section 3) describes the aims and objectives of the Water Framework Directive including the application of exemptions. The river basin management planning process used in Wales is described including how Natural Resources Wales is working with others. This section also describes how the updated plans in 2015 will be developed following this consultation. Defining and describing the water environment (section 4) describes how the water environment is divided up and characterised for the purposes of implementing the Water Framework Directive. It set out how the environment is monitored and the results of that monitoring used to assess and report on the status of the water environment. The latter part of the section describe the main challenges affecting management of the water environment in Wales, how future risks have been assessed and current causes of problems identified. Identifying measures and objectives (section 5) sets out the overall process used for determining environmental objectives, including water body status objectives and developing measures. It describes the role of economic appraisal and the objectives that are proposed within this consultation. Summary of engagement (section 6) looks at the engagement work we have done including public access to information, consultations and a forward look Page 5 of 102 www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk 2. Managing the water environment Summary of this section This section provides an introduction to the management of the water environment, describes why water is such an important resource and the policies (European and domestic)