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5 1 Water, Policy and Procedure There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place. Tales of a Traveller, Washington Irving (1824) 1.1 Pressing Needs for Conservation and Protection? Among the nations, the three constituent countries of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) were early to industrialise and have been that way for around two and a half centuries. While this observation sets the scene for an account of the water resources of Britain, the last 30 or more years have seen dramatic changes away from the heavy indus trial sector. Yet problems persist, particularly where ‘technical fixes’ have not provided solutions. Once it was assumed that regulatory measures, and especially ‘end of pipe’ pollution problems are solved (in theory) through consenting and licencing, yet diffuse pollution of waters persists from a range of contaminants and from a range of industrial and other activities. These result largely from the ways by which we conduct our econ omy and new solutions are sought. Not only is Britain definitively to manage its water resources on a catchment (or river basin) basis, but new political imperatives are emerging that require water management in part to become an extension of ‘civil society;’ this eclipses older ideas about ‘technocratic management’. This chapter outlines the present issues for sustainability and sustainable develop ment in water resources, and it also scopes out the challenges.
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