Abstraction reform ‘needs to go faster’

Abstraction reform needs to be treated with greater urgency to avoid disaster, non-governmental organisations told MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee last week.

Representatives of WWF and Action for the River Kennet (Ark) raised concerns about the government’s “leisurely timetable”. Rose Timlett, freshwater programme manager at WWF-UK, said some key decisions were being put off until the next Parliament and this could cause a lack of momentum.
In the near term, she backed suggestions the Environment Agency’s Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) programme could be funded through Ofwat’s price controls.
There are 260 sites across the country where RSA has stalled, said Timlett. “The problem with the RSA scheme is that it is pretty much the only water company scheme that is funded on a pay-as-you-go basis, whereas everything else … is funded on a debt basis.”
The government is consulting on plans to revoke licences without compensation where it would ­protect the environment from “serious damage”.
John Lawson, technical adviser to Ark, said this sounded dramatic but could lead to confrontation and delay. Timlett said the definition of “serious damage” was not clear and it was important not to wait until habitats had been destroyed before acting.

by Megan Darby

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 16 March 2012.
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