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Local pumping station in the north of Stronsay, flooded; Photo credit: John Smith, Age 8, Orkney, Water works photography competition

Scotland’s centre of expertise connecting water research and policy (CREW) delivers objective and robust research and professional opinion to support the development and implementation of water policy in Scotland. Although the importance of demand-driven science to support policy and practice is increasingly recognised, it is not easy to ensure that information is communicated effectively, to the appropriate end-users, in a suitable format, and at the best time to impact on policy or practice. There has been little evaluation of what makes for ‘good’ knowledge exchange that improves interaction, and no agreed methodology for evaluating these practices.

 
1st March 2016

To what extent could water quality be improved by reducing the phosphorous content in animal feed?

Cows feeding; Cover images courtesy of: Richard Gooday, ADAS

The latest River Basin Management Plan (RBMP; Scottish Government, 2015) states that 16% of waterbodies are below good status for water quality, and 246 waterbodies face rural diffuse pressures. Rural diffuse pollution has been identified as the number one water quality issue. Previous water quality monitoring data in Scotland found 7% of water bodies were failing to reach good status for phosphorus (Scottish Government, 2009), although this is based on phosphorus standards which have since been revised. Agriculture contributes a significant proportion of the phosphorus loss. Controlling this loss is an important approach to improving water quality in Scotland.

25th April 2016

New Droughts and Flooding Report Published

The UK Water Partnership has published a new report

The UK Water Partnership has published a new report Droughts and Floods – towards a more holistic approach, which can be found with an accompanying blog by the leading author Jim Wharfe.

The UK Water Partnership is now exploring how to take forward the recommendation for a more holistic environmental approach to flooding and drought research, innovation and implementation, including opportunities for a range of ecosystem-related markets.

25th April 2016

Workshop on pharma residues in the environment and bioremediation

Problems are caused by pharmaceutical residues entering drinking water, rivers and waste water effluents.

Problems are caused by pharmaceutical residues entering drinking water, rivers and waste water effluents. This raises difficult issues for public health professionals, while the water industry needs innovative and sustainable technologies to deal with them.

This event is being staged to highlight the scale of these issues, identify ways in which we can make a significant difference to public health concerns, as well as heading off the risks posed to Scotland’s international reputation as a pristine location, which food and drink, tourism and other important sectors rely on.

Importantly, there are significant opportunities here for businesses to provide technologies and services to reduce the risks, and be part of building Scotland’s reputation as a World leader in research and good practice in this sector.

You are invited to become involved, by joining this one-day workshop, at the Centre for Health Science, Raigmore, Inverness on Wednesday June 1 2016.

Who should attend:

  • Estates and waste managers – from the NHS and other organisations producing substantial volumes of wastewater and other discharges
  • Utility and water companies - and businesses in their supply chains
  • Public Health practitioners and other interested clinicians
  • Anyone developing relevant technological solutions - especially sustainable biotechnological approaches
  • Researchers interested in the water cycle, soil and the environmental contamination from pharma, other currently-recognised priority substances and emerging contamination issues.
  • People interested in developing the sustainable use of resources and circular economy
  • Statutory regulators 

Please save the date  -  further details will be circulated over the next few weeks: if you are interested in making a presentation at this meeting please get in touch

We would be grateful if you could pass this email on to any colleagues who would be interested in this meeting or its outcomes - and you can sign up to our circulation list here

Places at the workshop are free, and can booked at Eventbrite

 
1st November 2015

Learning from community led flood risk management

Community pilots; Images courtesy of: Kerry Waylen

While flood risk management (FRM) policy in Scotland requires the consideration of natural flood management (NFM), many landowners do not yet support their implementation. Since many measures to support NFM can only be carried out with the support and participation of land-managers, it is particularly important to understand the perceptions of these stakeholders.

 
1st November 2015

The Value of Scotland’s Water Resources – Legal Analysis

CREW Slider

In 2010, the Scottish Government launched its ‘Hydro Nation’ initiative. Hydro Nation was conceived as a policy platform to bring together different aspects of the management of Scotland’s water resources, in order to maximise the value of that resource base. The first consultation was very much focused on Scottish Water, the public water services supplier in Scotland, and addressed, inter alia, how Scottish Water could maximise the use of its assets, in order to support various policy objectives. These might include, in the domestic arena, maximising renewable energy generation; but also, further afield, providing technical advice, and advice on regulation and governance models for water services. 

Rural communities face particular challenges for access to affordable energy, treatment and disposal of waste and the provision of drinking water supplies. The Sustainable Rural Community concept envisions a paradigm shift in delivery of these services and aims to deliver a closed loop system that would be carbon and energy neutral, cost-effective and resilient.

The drivers for this theme include the Hydro Nation Strategy and Scottish Water objectives and include cross-cutting issues such as climate change. Other relevant water policies include the need to improve the quality and resilience of private water supplies driven by compliance with the Drinking Water Directive and the performance of septic tanks to help meet WFD objectives.

CREW is working with Scottish Water, DWQR and SEPA to achieve this vision.

Research needs identified to date include developing the evidence base, quantifying the flow of nutrients, identifying innovative technologies to improve small scale water management, assessing the health risks associated with private water supplies and working with community groups on small scale sustainable drinking water supply and waste water management.

Over 99% of public supplies for drinking water in Scotland complied with current standards. Our public supplies are delivered to our taps via 458 different sources (including rivers, lochs, and springs), 47,000 km of water mains and over 250 water treatment works. In private water supplies, serving 3% of the population, compliance is reduced to 88-94% in some areas.

The drinking water quality standards in Scotland largely stem from the EU Drinking Water Directive and subsequent enabling legislation. Drinking water quality from public water supplies is of high quality, demonstrating a continued improvement in drinking water quality. Challenges still exist around the provision and quality of private supplies.

Research needs identified include long term changes in raw water quality and the impacts of land use change and climate change, the implications of a lead free Scotland, risks to private water supplies, communicating drinking water quality metrics to the public, and the use of innovative technologies to destroy algal blooms

CREW is working with both Scottish Water and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) to address pressures and protect drinking water quality.

In 2009, Scotland adopted the Flood Risk Management Act to introduce a more sustainable and modern approach to flood risk management, and to better face the impact of climate change. Recently, SEPA published their flood risk and hazard maps. The final stage is in producing national and local flood risk management plans.

CREW is working with Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water on a number of flooding projects most recently on NFM, coastal flooding, flood risk and mental health, and surface water flood forecasting in urban communities. Research needs have been identified to include: public perceptions of uncertainty; effectiveness and transferability of Natural Flood Management measures and; impacts of, and resilience to, climate change

River Basin Management Planning is a requirement of the Water Framework Directive which aims to protect and improve water quality across Europe. Implemented in Scotland via domestic legislation the overarching aim is to achieve ‘good status’ in 97% of water bodies by 2027.

Consultations on both the Scotland and Solway Tweed River Basin Districts have recently been undertaken. The plans were published in 2015 for a six-year planning cycle up to 2021. The consultation gave a high level overview of the main pressures on the water environment and how these should be addressed. Although water quality is generally good, pressures include diffuse pollution from urban and agricultural sources, and alterations to the physical habitat of rivers.

Research priorities are many and varied and include characterisation of urban diffuse pollution, understanding sources and measures for impacts of faecal contamination of shellfish waters and the benefits of restoring the physical condition of rivers.

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