Scottish water quality benefiting from tighter regulation

Various regulatory initiatives designed to safeguard the quality of Scottish waters are achieving their desired effects, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has claimed in its latest annual report.

SEPA monitors the quality of Scottish rivers, coasts and estuaries annually, classifying purity levels according to biological and chemical analyses of water samples.

The group's 2006 report noted a reduction in the number of water bodies receiving an 'unsatisfactory' classification, though SEPA environmental quality manager Tom Leatherland cautioned that "much remains to be done to bring the quality of all waters up to desired standards".

A wide range of Scottish initiatives have been rolled out in recent times in an effort to improve ecological quality.

These include the Sustainable Urban Draining Scheme, which aims to minimise pollution from new urban developments by reducing sewer overflows and contaminated surface water run-off.

More recently the Water Framework Directive was brought into effect, extending the scope of regulatory regimes by bringing under control activities not previously subject to controls, such as abstraction and engineering works.

It is also hoped that ongoing reform in the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will bring further improvements to Scotland water systems.