Scotland’s water gets £3million monitoring boost

The Scottish Executive has announced an investment of £3 million to boost water quality monitoring activities and help meet the needs of the Water Framework Directive.


The investment will accompany a new set of regulations, the Controlled Activities Regulations, which will apply to all activities that impact on water quality such as abstraction of water, pollution and building and engineering works.

Mr Macdonald said both the regulations and the investment would help ensure the long-term protection of water resources and enable several major capital projects to be delivered.

The extra work it will help finance includes:

  • enhancing the existing monitoring network to help identify pressures on water resources;
  • extending the groundwater monitoring network;
  • creating a digital map of all engineering changes to rivers to enable better assessment of damage to habitats and wetlands;
  • creating a web-based registration and application facility for water users;
  • investing in capital equipment for monitoring hazardous substances;
  • creating a temporary processing team to enable SEPA to transfer consents to the new controlled activities regime.

    Campbell Gemell, Chief Executive of SEPA welcomed the investment: “Over the next two years, this additional funding will allow us to build a broader appreciation of the water environment and take steps to protect water bodies. We will also introduce online registration and applications for water users. This will streamline the process for SEPA and the organisations we regulate, providing a more efficient and cost effective service.”

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