Introduction

Water quality within the Channel and the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) areas is dominated by the water quality of the numerous rivers that discharge into the Cross Border area on both the English and French sides. Water quality (and quantity) within these rivers have common problems and all have deteriorated over recent history due to the management of their catchments and the large scale loss of wetted land (including wetlands, reedbeds, wet woodlands and floodplains), which buffer the river from the land.

Poor water quality (and quantity) in river catchments across the Channel area have many important social, economic and environmental implications including direct negative effects such as: increased droughts and floods; reduced biodiversity and ecosystem function; increased freshwater and marine eutrophication; and reductions in the river catchment’s ability to cope with the effects of climate change.

These implications in turn have indirect negative effects on: bathing water quality and tourism; fisheries and aquaculture; water treatment costs and drinking water availability; navigation in ports; increased flood and drought risk; and marine water quality deterioration on the continental shelf. These issues cannot be treated in isolation and require channel wide cooperation through integrated water resource management.

Whilst the ICZM area does not include river catchments the Water Framework Directive (WFD) covers all water bodies, including rivers and the ICZM area, and extends one nautical mile from the coast. The WFD aims to address the issue of poor water quality and quantity on a European level by assessing each river catchment and developing a programme of measures detailing how water quality and quantity can be improved.

Whilst the government of each member state appointed a competent authority, the Environment Agency in England and DIREN in France, which adopted the responsibility to assess water body quality and compile a programme of measures for restoration there is no statutory responsibility to deliver this programme. The competant authorities in each member state are encouraging stakeholders to formulate mechanisms for delivery and funding.

Visit the WATER Project website - www.projectwater.eu

Ancillary Projects

The WATER project is an orerarching Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Project that links in with several other Trust projects including: by:

          1. WEPES - Wetland Example of Payments for Ecosystem Services

          2. C-Plus - Carbon - Permenant Land Use Storage.