Doubts raised over EU water targets

The Environment Agency has said that targets under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) whereby 32 per cent of water bodies will be required to reach ‘good’ classification by 2015 will be “tough to meet”.

Currently, just 27 per cent of water-bodies in England are classified as being of ‘good status’ under standards set out in the Water Framework Directive. Under the EU rules, all water bodies must meet this target by 2027.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We know European standards will be tough to meet in the coming years – given the country’s combination of industrial legacy, urban development, transport infrastructure, farming activity and population growth – but the target is a useful driver for restoring rivers across the UK and Europe.”

There is wide-ranging acceptance that the target is unlikely to be met with trade body Water UK claiming that no EU member state is likely to make the 100 per cent target in 2027.

A Water UK spokesperson told Utility Week: “It’s a huge undertaking. The targets are going to be very tough to meet. Water companies are trying their best to meet them and are making good progress in the UK but we have to balance environmental improvements with customer affordability.”  

Jacob Tompkins, managing director of NGO Waterwise, agreed that the targets would not be met but argued that customers were willing to pay more to protect the environment and that the water sector should have acted earlier to meet the WFD targets.

“In order to meet [the targets] we should have been working collaboratively over the last decade and we haven’t been. It boils down to a total lack of strategy in the water sector.

“It’s a dog ate my homework kind of excuse because there has been no preparation leading up to it,” he said.