Implications For Water Companies Arising From The Environment Agency's River Basin Planning Consultation

The Consultation

In this article we take a closer look at the current Environment Agency consultation covering River Basin Planning and consider issues for organisations operating in the Water Industry.

The Environment Agency consultation is open now and runs until 24th April 2020. Following the consultation the Environment Agency intends to produce new river basin management plans in 2021. The Environment Agency consultation seeks to identify the challenges threatening water quality, explore how waters should be managed and who should pay for the actions required. Responses to the consultation can be submitted here.

By way of background, around £5 billion is spent each year protecting fresh water assets and to protect public health and wildlife from pollution. However, only 16% of England's groundwater, rivers, lakes, estuaries and seas are close to their natural state and 90% of UK's wetland habitats have disappeared in the last 100 years.

With a view to narrowing the gap between the desired outcomes1 and tackling climate change, the Environment Agency is proposing specific plans for each river basin...