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Water Working Group

Chair: Carrie Hume, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Vice Chair: Janina Gray, Salmon & Trout Association
Secretary: Kate Hand

The Water Working Group seeks to restore the ecology of the UK’s rivers, lakes and wetlands through the work of the Blueprint for Water coalition, by advocating 10 steps to sustainable water by 2015.

 

Update from the group: January 2012

 

Water White Paper

The Government’s Water White Paper (WWP) was published in December 2011. The Blueprint for Water Coalition subsequently met the Minister for Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon MP, on 12 January to discuss the white paper. The meeting was very productive and provided an opportunity for the coalition to stress that while the WWP contains good proposals, the long time scales and the lack of immediate action is concerning. For more information please click here. Link has also submitted written evidence to the EFRA Select Committee for the Water White Paper inquiry.

 

Link Water Working Group meeting

On 10 January the Water Working Group met to discuss their work plan for 2012. Also on 10 January, the group met Trevor Bishop, Ian Johnson and Sheena Engineer from the Environment Agency (EA) to discuss the WFD, abstraction management and hydropower, as well as how the EA and the Blueprint coalition can work together and better share information.

   

Blueprint for Water

The Blueprint coalition met with the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) on 19 January for a very productive meeting about FBA’s involvement in the Coalition.  Representatives of the Blueprint coalition also plan to meet with Pauline Crellin, Head of the Sustainable Drainage Systems Team at Defra, to discuss the current consultation on national standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems and Implementation of the Sustainable Drainage Provisions in Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act (2010).

 

The Water Working Group is also planning to respond to the Nitrates Directive consultation and currently preparing a response to the Periodic Review of Water Pricing in 2014.