www.britishwater.co.uk
PAGE 41 CLIMATE CHANGE Climate Change – legislative mitigation and adaptation
Government is responding to the environmental challenges of Climate Change with a raft of legislation and subsequent regulations all of which will bring opportunities at all scales to the water industry supply chain.
Since the turn of the millennium the extremes of climate change have shown themselves, drought in 2004-6, the Boscastle floods in 2004 (>200 year return storm) and then more general intense rainfall and floods in 2007-8. Climate
change predictions are being used to intensify the drive for sustainability in all aspects of industrial, commercial and domestic life. The spectres of water scarcity, globally and locally in the UK and interspersed with excessive rainfall
events, are focussing government activity on the many human influences on and needs for water.
Government has regularly revised its strategy, ‘Directing the Flow’ in 2002 preceded ‘Making Space for Water’ and “Future Water” was announced in February 2008 covering all aspects of water use and emphasising sustainable use of water and the needs of the environment. In mid 2008 came the Pitt review of the 2007 floods while the revised UKCIP projections are expected in the spring of 2009. These all provide more grist for the government’s legislative mill in addition to EU Directives and the ramping up of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive to meet the 2015 targets.
Increasing legislation generally brings increased demands and opportunities for processes and technologies to meet the new requirements. Daughter Directives of the WFD, including groundwater quality, nutrient sensitive zoning and control of priority substances, should all provide additional opportunities as well as challenges for compliance. Inevitably there will also be an increase in obligations on companies, both customers and in the supply chains, to develop work practices which conform to sustainability codes and requirements.
Fig 1 Precipitation predictions for 2080 (red/brown +ve, green/blue –ve)
Government recognises that increasing legislation can place excessive burdens on both the regulated and the regulator. The Hampton review in 2005 has resulted in the development of the Regulators’ Compliance Code which ‘asks regulators to perform their duties in a business-friendly way, by planning regulation and inspections in a way that causes least disruption to the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100