From now on, assessments will be made to ensure they are ‘Water Framework Directive compliant’. Replacement licences may not be issued on the same terms as the expired licence where there is a risk of environmental deterioration in the local area.
Over the next few years, the environmental sustainability of all time limited abstractions will be assessed to decide whether the replacement licences need to be changed in some way.
This requirement will apply to time limited licences across the whole of England, but its major impact will be initially felt in the Cam & Ely Ouse catchment that straddles parts of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Across this catchment 400 licences are due for renewal in March 2015.
The Environment Agency is busily screening out all the licences which will not be affected by the new procedure, which includes some 200 ‘level backed’ licences in the fens that will not be affected by the changes.
Although the Environment Agency originally planned to take immediate action on licences, where necessary, it has now agreed to replace all licences unchanged for three years, subject to the standard ‘need and efficiency’ tests. The Environment Agency will use that time to work with licence holders to discuss potential longer term licence changes from 2018.
The new approach is being driven by the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, which sets out water quality objectives for member states to meet through the actions proposed in their river basin management plans. Objectives are set for surface waters, groundwater and ‘protected areas’ such as SSSIs.
Member states must aim to achieve ‘good status' by certain deadlines, so the measures proposed in the river basin management plans should be designed to achieve good status in those timeframes.
While the need to achieve ‘good status’ is understood, making it a reality will be undoubtedly challenging and the government has some difficult decisions to make on whether the benefits will outweigh the costs of some of the measures proposed to achieve good status. Until those decisions are taken a holding position is provided by Article 4(4) of the WFD that allows the deadlines to achieve good status to be extended “provided that no further deterioration occurs in the status of the protected body of water”.
New procedures for renewing abstraction licences are being put in place to help deliver this ‘no deterioration’ requirement.
Explaining the new approach Trevor Bishop, Deputy Director of Water Resources at the Environment Agency, said: “Many rivers and groundwaters in England suffer because too much water is abstracted from them to supply industry, agriculture and people.
“There is also a risk that more environmental damage may occur if the amount of water abstracted increases.The Environment Agency is currently writing to licence holders whose time limited licences are due to expire at the end of March 2015. We will advise them if any changes might be required to their licences.
“The Environment Agency does recognise the importance of water security to the agricultural sector and it will take this into account when deciding on the extent and time-scale for making changes to time limited licences.”
Guy Smith, NFU Vice President, led recent national NFU discussions with Defra and the Environment Agency. He believes we must get the balance right between abstraction and environmental need.
“The NFU supports the principle of sustainable abstraction and we agree that the environment should be protected against long term and irreversible decline,” he said.
“But environmental protection must be fairly balanced with the needs of abstractors, and so we seek a fair and proportionate approach to licensing.
“We are concerned that this emerging government policy could impact disproportionately on the food producing sector and will leave farmers and growers with insufficient water, and not enough time to adapt their businesses to new circumstances.”
Mr Smith stressed that the NFU relies on the application of good science whenever the Environment Agency makes difficult decisions, to balance the needs of the environment with those of businesses.
The NFU is particularly concerned about how groundwater will be dealt with. We know from the experiences of the 2012 drought that we all have much to learn about how aquifers behave and we will want to ensure that any link between groundwater abstraction and river ecologyis properly understood and evaluated before action is taken on irrigation that may harm growers’ ability to grow our food.
Paul Hammett, NFU water resources specialist, emphasised the importance of local engagement between the Environment Agency and the farming community.
The NFU has formed a farmer group in the Cam & Ely Ouse catchment to improve understanding of the issues and work with the Agency to find sensible solutions, if and when problems are identified.
NFU farmer group member - Tim Jolly:
Third generation farmer Tim Jolly is a key member of that NFU group. Tim grows 850 acres of arable crops on the light sandy soils of the Brecks in Norfolk. Crops include asparagus, potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips and sugar beet, as well as cereals. He also farms outdoor pigs. Tim explained why irrigated water is crucial to his business.
“Quite simply we cannot grow high value crops, such as potatoes and onions, without it. We have an extensive network of underground pipes across the farm so we can irrigate crops in any field and achieve the quality and quantity our customers demand,” he said.
Tim’s farming system depends on an ample supply of groundwater. There are four boreholes around the farm, totaling around 500,000 cubic metres of water. These are all time-limited licences and due for renewal in 2015.
The licences are regularly checked against possible impact on the local Breckland Meres SSSI and so Tim is no stranger to environmental assessment. But he is concerned about how Environment Agency groundwater models will, in future, be used to predict how his groundwater abstraction affects the ecology of local rivers.
Tim expressed the views of many local farmers when he said: “It’s the uncertainty of it all that’s the biggest concern. For example, will our irrigation licences be restricted by volume? If so, will we be limited to our average water use over a number of years, or to our need in peak years? Can we abstract more in the winter to store in reservoirs? And if the licence reductions do not achieve what the Environment Agency says they will, will our licences increase again?
“In a worst-case scenario we would just have to prioritise water for our high-value crops. It would definitely impact on the quantity and range of different crops that farmers grow.”
Note
The actions the Environment Agency is taking to balance the needs to the environment, business and society are set out in the River Basin Management Plans (available on GOV.UK). Public consultation on the next round of plans and actions covering the period 2015 to 2021 is due to start this September. Please take part in the consultation if you want to influence the content of these plans.