2008: putting the 10 steps into practice
In 2008 the Government will be making a number of key decisions that represent a one-off opportunity to realise the vision we set out in the Blueprint for Water. We urge them to seize this chance to secure a sustainable future for water.
Defra Water Strategy
The Water Strategy will outline the Government's priorities for water both now and into the future. We look to the Water Strategy to provide the leadership and direction needed to deliver our vision for sustainable water, including securing water supplies, enhancing biodiversity, maximising social and economic benefits and improving our resilience to climate change.
EU Water Framework Directive: draft plans
The EU Water Framework Directive is the most important piece of water legislation ever passed in Europe. It requires all member states to restore the ecology of their rivers, lakes and wetlands by 2015, with each state's plans in place by 2009. Restoring our water environment will deliver enormous benefits for us and for nature, but to achieve it we need far-reaching measures covering water use, pollution, and water habitats. Several years in the making, the draft plans for England and Wales are due in 2008.
2009 Periodic Review of water prices (PR09): review begins
Plans for water industry investment are set every five years through negotiations between water companies and Ofwat, their economic regulator, with guidance from the Government. The next review, which begins in 2008, provides a crucial opportunity to:
- protect nationally and internationally important wetland sites by amending or revoking damaging abstraction licences and taking action on water quality;
- take forward large-scale water efficiency programmes; and
- tackle water quality problems at source through catchment management initiatives that offer many benefits for biodiversity and the environment.
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): mid-term review
Agricultural pollution is one of the biggest challenges to the health of our water environment. The CAP mid-term review gives us an opportunity to give farmers positive incentives to prevent pollution and to restore degraded soils, rivers and wetlands. We will achieve sustainable water management only when public funding for agriculture is based on delivering these public benefits.
