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The Environment Agency has proposed changing abstraction rules to safeguard water supplies after reclassifying more regions as severely water-stressed.
The agency intends to alter how licence holders are charged to take water from the environment. The proposed fees, which it is consulting on, would be based on the volume of water abstracted, where it is taken from, and how much will be returned to the environment.
Environment Agency (EA) chief executive James Bevan said the changes would bolster river and chalk stream protections. He said they would allow the EA “to manage our water resources better for the public, businesses and the environment; and to sustain supplies into the future, helping us secure long term water resilience.”
Under the proposals, annual charges would decrease for around 45 per cent of abstractors and increase for 55 per cent. The EA said the changes would allow it to invest in upgrading infrastructure assets to transport water around the country.
As well as increasing its income for its work, the EA said the new rules would improve security of supply and allow it to monitor water better. The agency said it would be able to modernise its regime, including providing digital services. It said the proposals would help protect and enhance the water environment through a more sustainable abstraction methodology, especially in sensitive habitats.
The proposals are part of a wider government consultation to follow later this year on plans to streamline environmental regulatory framework for abstraction licensing.
The current rules have not been updated for 10 years for businesses that take more than 20,000 litres a day from a groundwater source, river, stream or canal.
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