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ANNEX H: ASSESSING WHETHER THE OBJECTIVES FOR DRINKING WATER PROTECTED AREAS ARE BEING ACHIEVED
Risk assessments
Scottish Water is undertaking work to identify the risks to raw water quality. The results of these risk assessments will be used to inform the development of drinking water safety plans.
The risk assessments will include work aimed at identifying water supplies that have been, or are likely to be, compromised by deterioration in the quality of the water environment. This work is being undertaken jointly with SEPA.
For larger private water supplies, local authorities are under a duty to undertake similar risk assessments from source to tap. For smaller supplies, local authorities have discretion to undertake such assessments but are not under a duty to do so. In such cases, provided that the owner of the private supply has, and makes available, information on supply chain risks, SEPA will be able to work jointly with the owner to assess whether, as relevant:
(a) the supply has been compromised by deterioration in the quality of the protected area; or
(b) there is risk that deterioration in the quality of the protected area is occurring and likely to compromise the supply.
Determining whether the objective is achieved
Where it is concluded on the basis of any of the assessments referred to above that a supply has been compromised and that this was caused by deterioration in the quality of water in the drinking water protected area, the protected area will be assessed as failing to achieve its objective.
Where an assessment instead indicates that water quality could be deteriorating but a supply has not yet been compromised, monitoring data will be used where available to identify and assess trends in the concentration of relevant substances or micro-organisms in the protected area. The data for this purpose may be obtained from monitoring programmes undertaken by Scottish Water, the owner of the private supply, the local authority or SEPA. These monitoring programmes will be informed and prioritised by the results of the risk assessments.
If the trend assessment identifies the presence of:
(a) a statistically significant upward trend in the concentration, or in the variability of the concentration, of a substance or micro-organism for which standards are set under the Drinking Water Directive; and
(b) the trend is predicted to compromise a supply for human consumption
the protected area will be assessed as failing to achieve its objective.
Where there is insufficient evidence 8 to determine whether or not:
(a) a supply has been compromised because of deterioration of a drinking water protected area (rather than some other cause); or
(b) will be compromised by deterioration of such an area if a trend goes unchecked,
the protected area will be identified as being at risk of failing to achieve its objective.
Where an area is identified as at risk, further environmental monitoring and investigation should be prioritised to enable the risk to be properly assessed and a decision made on whether the protected area is achieving its objective.
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