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7. PROTECTED AREAS - ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
7.1 Overview
The river basin management planning process provides the framework for assessing whether we are achieving our objectives for 'protected areas'. These are areas designated under EU legislation as requiring special protection. This might be because they are important for recreational activities, such as bathing; because they support economically important species, such as shellfish; or because they support habitats or species important for biodiversity conservation. Such designations are made by Ministers - current designations can be found under the Register of Protected Areas on SEPA's website.
Specific standards and objectives apply to protected areas. These standards and objectives, and the methods for determining whether they are being achieved or not, are set under the EU-legislation establishing the area. SEPA is required to identify in the river basin district management plans where we are achieving the objectives and standards for the different protected areas.
The process of assessing whether protected area standards and objectives are being achieved is a separate process to water body classification and made specifically in relation to any objectives a water body might have as a protected area. Although this is not 'classification' in the same terms as that described in previous sections, we consider it appropriate to discuss how SEPA should assess the achievement of protected area objectives, as part of this consultation. The different types of protected areas and the associated assessment requirements are summarised in the table below.
Different types of protected areas and their associated assessment requirements |
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Protected Area | Legislation under which designated | Assessment required |
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Areas designated for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption | Waters designated as intended to be used for human consumption under the Water Framework Directive | Whether achieving, or failing to achieve, the objective as described in Section 7.2 below |
Areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species | Waters designated under the Freshwater Fish Directive (78/659/ EEC) or the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/ EEC) | Whether achieving, or failing to achieve, the standards & objectives required by the relevant Directive |
Bodies of water designated as recreational waters | Waters designated under the Bathing Water Directives (2006/7/ EC & 76/160/ EEC) |
Nutrient-sensitive areas | Waters identified as polluted waters under the Nitrates Directive (91/676/ EEC) or as sensitive areas under the Urban Waste Water Treatment (91/271/ EEC) | Whether complying, or failing to comply, with the requirements of the relevant Directive |
Areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the status of water is an important factor in their protection | Relevant Natura 2000 sites designated under the Habitats Directive (92/43/ EEC) or the Birds Directive (79/409/ EEC) | Whether meeting or failing to meet the water status-related needs of the site's biodiversity conservation objectives |
7.2 Drinking water protected areas
Although the majority of objectives for protected areas are established under other EU legislation, there is one exception to the above; drinking water protected areas. These areas and their objectives were established specifically by the WFD. Consequently, we need to set out how SEPA is expected to assess whether or not the objectives for these areas are being achieved.
Drinking water protected areas are surface water bodies or groundwater bodies with totalled abstractions intended for human consumption of greater than 10 cubic metres per day on average, or serving more than 50 people.
Drinking water protected areas have to comply with the requirements of Article 7 of the Water Framework Directive ( WFD). Such areas will fail to meet these requirements if deterioration in their quality has compromised, or would compromise, for example, any supply or combination of supplies providing 10 cubic metres per day on average, or serving more than 50 people. Otherwise they will be assessed as achieving their drinking water protected area objective.
A supply for human consumption would be compromised if, for example, an alternative source had to be used to comply with the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive; the water blended with that from another source; additional treatment installed; or the operating demands placed on the existing water treatment system significantly increased. Deterioration of the microbiological or chemical quality of a drinking water protected area may be responsible for a supply being compromised.
The status of a body of groundwater that is also a drinking water protected area cannot be classed as good unless the body is achieving its drinking water protected area objective.
More detail on the assessment process is described at Annex H. For the first river basin management plan, the data available to SEPA for the purpose of undertaking the assessments described principally relate to large public water supplies. As the available data increases, particularly that for private water supplies, we expect SEPA to incorporate this into its assessment of drinking water protected areas.
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