local environment agency plan BRUE AND AXE CONSULTATION REPORT JULY 1997 E n v ir o n m e n t Ag e n c y Ninonil Information Centre The Environment Agency Rio House Waterside Drive Aztec West BRISTOL BS1 2 +UD Due for return FOREWORD this Local Environment Agency Plan represents a significant step forward in environmental thinking. It has been clear for many years that the problems of land, air and water, particularly in the realm of pollution control, cannot be adequately addressed individually. They are interdependent, each affecting the others. The Government's answer was to create the Environment Agency with the umbrella responsibility for all three. The role and duties of the Agency are set out in this Consultation Report. This holistic approach is now reflected in this Plan. It is a logical development of the Catchment Management Plans prepared by the former National Rivers Authority, now subsumed into the new Agency. It sets out the environmental problems of the area in a way which has not been done before, and suggests the most important issues which should now be addressed. It is, I believe, vital reading for everyone concerned with the future of North Wessex. The catchment of the Rivers Brue and Axe encompasses a varied and complex environment, which includes a major part of the important Somerset Levels and Moors. The Plan covers all the work of the Environment Agency - water management, waste regulation and the control of heavy industrial processes. We look forward to hearing your views on the many environmental issues discussed here and I hope that with the help of our partners we can work towards a better environment in this area. CHRIS BIRKS AREA MANAGER (NORTH WESSEX) Environment Agency Information Centre Head Office Class No . YOUR VIEWS We hope that this Consultation Report will be read by everyone who has an interest in the quality of the environment. Your views will help us finalize the Action Plan. Have we identified all the problems in the Plan area? Are there any issues which you would like to highlight? Please send your written comments to: Alan Turner, Environment Planner, Environment Agency, North Wessex Area, Rivers House, East Quay, BRIDGWATER, Somerset, TA6 4YS. Tel: 01278 457333, by 31 O ctober 1997. HOW TO USE THIS CONSULTATION REPORT For advice on how to use this Consultation Report please see Section 1.2.5. THE NEXT STAGE We will collate responses to this Consultation Report and publish an Action Plan in spring 1998. Each year we will review the progress that has been made with the actions identified in the Action Plan and publish a brief review. GENERAL INQUIRIES For general information about the work of the Environment Agency, or information about a specific matter, please contact our Customer Services Centre at the Bridgwater Office, Tel: 01278 457333. Environment Agency Copyright Waiver This report is intended to be used widely and may be quoted, copied or reproduced in any way, provided that the extracts are not quoted out of context and that due acknowledgement is given to the Environment Agency. Published July 1997 Contents Vision 1 Part 1 - Introduction and Issues and Options 1. Introduction 2 1.1 The Environment Agency 2 1.2 This Local Environment Agency Plan 4 1.3 The LEAP Area 5 2. Protection Through Partnership 8 2.1 Links with Local Authorities 8 2.2 Air Quality 8 2.3 Amenity and Recreation Initiatives 8 2.4 Litter 8 2.5 Local Agenda 21 8 2.6 Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) 8 2.7 Working with Businesses 8 2.8 Links with Government Bodies 9 2.9 Examples of Partnerships 9 3. Issues and Options 10 3.1 Issue - The impact of abstraction, penning and field irrigation 10 3.2 Issue - The impact of river canalization and maintenance 11 3.3 Issue - Eutrophication 12 3.4 Issue - Use of Environment Agency owned land 13 3.5 Issue - Maintaining and enhancing biodiversity 13 3.6 Issue - The impact of the Royal Ordnance factory 15 3.7 Issue - Securing future public water supplies 15 3.8 Issue - The impact of peat extraction 16 3.9 Issue - The impact of agriculture 16 3.10 Issue - The impact of sewage treatment works 17 3.11 Issue - The impact of septic tanks and soakaways 18 3.12 Issue - The impact of St Cuthberts Paper Mill 18 3.13 Issue - The impact of abandoned lead mines 19 3.14 Issue • Development pressure 19 Part 2 - Supporting Information 4. The Physical Environment 21 4.1 Geology 21 4.2 Soils and agricultural land use 21 4.3 Hydrology 22 4.4 Hydrogeology 22 5. The Quality of Surface Waters 25 5.1 Our Proposed Targets for River Water Quality 25 5.2 River Quality Objectives t- . 2 7 5.3 EC Bathing Waters Directive - See Severn Estuary Strategy Joint Issues Report 30 5.4 Non-identified Bathing Waters - See Severn Estuary Strategy Joint Issues Report { v 30 5.5 EC Freshwater Fish Directive - 3 0 5.6 EC Nitrates Directive 30 5.7 EC Surface Water Abstraction Directive 30 5.8 EC Dangerous Substances Directive 31 5.9 EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 32 5.10 EC Shellfish Waters Directive 32 .5.11 EC Shellfish Hygiene Directive 32 5.12 Bioaccumulation .3 2 i 5.12 Biological Classification 32 5.13 Groundwater Protection 35 6. Air Quality 37 6.1 Monitoring 37 6.2 National Air Quality Strategy 37 6.3 Local Air Quality Management Areas 38 6.4 Ground Level Ozone 38 6.5 Volatile Organic Compounds 38 6.6 Sulphur Dioxide 38 6.7 Nitrogen Dioxide 39 6.8 Acid Rain .39 7. Landscape 40 8. Wildlife 45 8.1 Designated Areas 45 8.2 Somerset Levels and Moors Water Level Management and Nature Conservation Strategy 4S 8.3 Water Level Management Plans 46 8.4 Prime Biodiversity Areas 46 8.5 Habitats 46 8.6 Avalon Marshes 46 8.7 Species 46 8.8 Invasive Plants 48 9. Archaeology 52 10. Fisheries 53 10.1 Fish Populations 53 10.2 Angling 54 10.3 Commercial Fishing for Wild Fish Stocks 54 11. Recreation 57 11.1 Agency Ow ned Sites S7 12. Mineral Extraction 59 13. The Management of Waste 61 13.1 Waste Arisings 62 13.2 Waste Management Sites 63 13.3 Waste Planning 63 14. Contaminated Land 66 15. Flood Defence and Land Drainage 66 15.1 Flood Risk and Development 66 15.2 Maintaining River and Flood Defence Structures 67 15.3 Improvements 68 15.4 Shoreline Management Plans 68 16. Development and the Environment 71 17. Water Abstraction and Supply 74 17.1 Public W ater Supply 74 18. Aqueous Discharges 78 18.1 Continuous Discharges 78 18.2 Intermittent Discharges 79 18.3 Discharges to Ground 79 19. Aquaculture 82 20. Farming and forestry 82 20.1 Farming 82 20.2 Forestry 84 // 21. Controlled Industrial Processes 86 22. The Storage, Use and Disposal of Radioactive Material Including Nuclear Licensed Sites 86 Part 3 - Appendices 23. Area Environment Group 88 24. Steering Group 88 25. Our Environmental Standards 89 25.1 Public Registers and Access to Environmental Information 89 25.2 EC Directives 89 25.3 Our River Quality Objective Targets , 91 26. The Somerset Levels and Moors Water Level Management and Nature Conservation Strategy . 9 3 27. Glossary of Terms 94 28. Units 95 29. References . 9 5 in List of M aps Map 1 - Brue and Axe Catchment Location................................................................................................ vl M ap 2 - Bnie and Axe Catchm ent...................................................................................... ........................7 M ap 3 -.Geology and H ydrogeology......................................................................................................... 23 Map 4 - Hydrometric Network........... ....... :...........'.................................................................................24 M ap 5 - Proposed River Quality Objectives................................................................................................ 26 M ap 6 - Compliance with River Quality Objectives (River Ecosystem Classification 1995)’....................................28 M ap 7 - EC Directives M on itorin g....................................................................................... ......................29 Map 8 - Biological Water Quality....... ...................................................................................................... 34 Map 9 - Groundwater Source Protection Areas..................................... .................................................... 36 Map 10 - Exceedences of Critical Loads of Acidity for Soils........................................ ............... ...................41 Map 11 - Designated Landscapes.......................................... 1..................................................................42 M a p 12 - Conservation Resource 1............................................................................................... ............ 43 M ap 13 - Conservation Resource 2 ......................................................... ......................... .........................44 Map 14 - Water Levels................................................................................................. .......................... 49 Map 15 - River Habitat Quality 1 ......................................................................................... .................... 50 M ap 16 - River Habitat Quality 2 ................................................................................................... .......... 50 M ap 17 - River Habitat Quality 3 ................................................................................. .............................51 Map 18 - Fisheries....... :........................................................................................................................