Scottish Government

Chapter two
RIVER BASIN PLANNING - THE SYSTEM

Introduction

2.1 The Directive can be best understood in terms of its central requirement: the production of strategic management plans for river basin districts that establish environmental objectives (quality targets) for each water body and describe the measures that will have to be put in place to achieve them. These plans are called River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). The Directive envisages a cyclical process whereby these plans are reviewed and updated every 6 years. The Directive recognises the importance of keeping members of the public and those who might be directly affected by the Directive informed and there has to be extensive public consultation at each stage. This chapter describes the steps in the river basin planning system in more detail.

The Planning Cycle

2.2 There are four distinct elements to the river basin planning cycle: characterisation of river basin districts; environmental monitoring; the plan itself with its environmental objectives; and, the programmes of measures that must be put in place to achieve them. Table 2.1 outlines the different elements of this cycle.

Table 2.1: Planning cycle

2.3 The Directive sets various deadlines by which the various stages of this planning cycle are to be achieved. These deadlines all follow from the date of coming into force so each deadline falls due on 22 December of the relevant year. In most cases results have to be reported to the European Commission within 2 or 3 months. The full timetable is shown in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Timetable

River Basin Characterisation

2.4 The first step in producing an RBMP is to describe the river basin district. This involves an environmental and economic review of the characteristics of the chosen river basin districts. The first time round, for the December 2004 deadline, it will also involve defining 'water bodies', the basic unit of management under the Directive, and deriving a system for classifying them according to ecological quality as measured against "reference" or undisturbed conditions. These requirements are described in detail in Annex 1

Monitoring

2.5 The next stage is environmental monitoring to examine the state of the environment in more detail. The aim is to provide an overview of water status within the district and to assign water bodies to one of the five status classes under the classification scheme (see section on environmental objectives below). The monitoring requirements and their implications are examined in more detail in Chapter 11.

Environmental Objectives

2.6 The review of river basin characteristics and the monitoring will provide data on the human pressures and impacts on the water environment within the river basin district. This information will be used in the setting of environmental objectives for each water body. These objectives are crucial because they drive the programmes of measures - the actions that have to be taken to tackle the environmental problems identified by the review of characteristics and monitoring.

2.7 The Directive uses the concept of water "status" for classifying water bodies and setting the main environmental objectives. Surface water status has a chemical and an ecological component. Groundwater status has a chemical and a quantitative component. Both components must be satisfied in order to meet the key objective - the achievement of "good status" within 15 years of the Directive coming into force.

2.8 Some water bodies can be designated as heavily modified or artificial, acknowledging that physical modifications can make it difficult to achieve good status. Limited derogations from the main requirements are allowed where it is not possible or over expensive to achieve the key objective. The environmental objectives also encompass requirements under other relevant Community legislation. Where more than one objective could apply, for example in a protected area, the most stringent must apply.

2.9 In the past there has been a tendency to concentrate solely on pollution and water chemistry. The biology based objectives called for in the Directive encompass the effects of pollution, water quantity and physical impacts on surface and groundwaters. The objectives will be able to take account of other environmental, social and economic priorities as well as the needs of the water environment. They will need to be based on sound science and a good understanding of economics. This new system sets stretching targets but it will allow us to look at the environment in the round and to prioritise resources towards those impacts that are causing the greatest environmental problems.

2.10 Annex 2 describes these requirements in more detail. It also describes the criteria for derogations and the designation of heavily modified waters and the Directive's requirements in relation to protected areas.

Content of the River Basin Management Plans

2.11 All of the information described above is brought together in the RBMP. The RBMP will set out environmental objectives for water bodies within the river basin district and explain how those objectives are to be achieved. The plan must also include information on monitoring arrangements and the status of water bodies within the river basin district. Much of the information will be presented in map form. Public consultation and the involvement of stakeholders is an important feature of the Directive and the finished plan must contain a report on the results of public consultation. Table 2.3 lists what should be contained in each RBMP.

2.12 The plan will flag up the consequences of the Directive for water users: industry, farmers and, ultimately, everyone as domestic consumers of water. However, its contents should not come as any surprise because of the consultation that will inform the production of the plan. The environmental objectives set out in the plan will inform future regulatory action, for example, licensing and statutory codes of practice for discharges and physical impacts such as abstraction and impoundments (see Chapters 5 to 9 for more details). They will also inform policy on water charging (see chapter 10).

2.13 The RBMP also serves as a means of reporting on implementation to the European Commission.

2.14 The RBMP's are likely to be strategic in scale. Accordingly, there is scope for supplementing them with other plans and programmes to tackle problems in specific sub basins or for particular issues or water types. Where such supplementary plans exist they may be reported within the RBMP.

Table 2.3: Contents of the RBMP