Today sees the release of the long awaited Water White Paper. It starts to address what needs to be done to increase the resilience of our water system and tackle the combined effects of climate change and a rising population.
Its main proposal is to move towards catchment management to tackle the issue of diffuse pollution and abstraction licensing. It recognises that only a quarter of our rivers and lakes are fully functioning ecosystems.
While the general tenor is to be welcomed its disappointing that the White Paper is more about talk than action. The legislation needed to tackle abstraction licensing is not planned to be introduced until the next Parliament. Given the current issues with water supply can we really wait that long?
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