Water is rapidly moving up the agenda as the major environmental issue and 2009 brings unprecedented opportunities for government to make positive changes for society.

Several important policy developments will happen this year: new legislation will address flooding and water, Ofwat will decide how water companies fund environmental improvement and, crucially, government will decide how to deliver the ambitious objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive.

This 2 February the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) marks World Wetlands Day by urging everyone to let the government know we want a sustainable future for water that maximises the benefits that wetlands deliver to society.

Carrie Hume, WWT’s head of conservation policy explains why water is such an important issue for all of us: “Our activities have destroyed many of our natural river systems and waterways, and the functions, such as flood relief, that they provided. The ways in which we have manipulated and managed our water has come at a big cost to us and our wetland wildlife. Over 80% of our water bodies are in poor ecological condition. They are not working as nature intended and for every natural process that is unpicked, we are obliged to replace it with a costly artificial one. The urgent need to restore the balance is gaining more and more support. But we still need to use every opportunity to become a tsunami of opinion for the restoration of our wetlands.”

The EU Water Framework Directive requires governments to set out how they will improve the health of wetlands by the end of 2009. There is an opportunity for every one of us to have our say. Until the 22 June, the Environment Agency is asking for the public’s views on its draft River Basin Management Plans, which outline what action is needed where in order to deliver the Directive.

Carrie Hume explains: “The draft plans do not go far enough at the moment, but we have a window to influence them and a seemingly open ear. It’s vital we give government a strong message that there is support for clean, ecologically rich waterways. Each of us can give the benefit of on-the-ground, local knowledge to inform these plans. WWT has posted its guide to responding to the River Basin Management Plans on its website and we will be providing our own response later in the year.”

We are expecting the draft Floods and Water Bill to build on lessons learnt from the floods of 2007. The Bill will bring together a range of government sponsored reviews and reports. Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, is due this year to decide how water companies fund environmental improvement.

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) has mixed feelings about the government’s announcement on the next stage of the Severn tidal power feasibility study.

A shortlist of five projects has been chosen including the most potentially damaging option, the Cardiff-Weston barrage. The government also announced £500k funding for a parallel study to develop innovation within the tidal energy sector. This could include investigating those options not included on the shortlist. WWT hopes such options could deliver comparable energy generation at much less cost to the ecology of the estuary and to the public purse.

Debbie Pain, WWT director of conservation commented: “We have mixed feelings about today’s announcement. WWT fully supports sustainable, renewable energy. However, we would have felt more comfortable had government excluded the most damaging option and kept in those options that appear more environmentally benign. They would then be subject to the same level of scrutiny as the barrages and lagoons. However, the announcement of £500,000 funding to develop these promising technologies appears to be a real opportunity to find a solution which does the least damage to the unique habitats of the River Severn.

“WWT is optimistic that a solution exists which can help meet government targets on CO2 reductions without destroying the Severn’s unique ecology. And we are fully committed to helping government find that solution. We believe it is imperative that we work together to deliver a secure, low carbon energy future”
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