History behind various acts leading to something similar to the Clean Water Act in USA for Great Britain

Question

If the Rivers Pollution 1876 was the first attempt to deal with the river pollution in Great Britain, what other acts are there that leads to something similar to the Clean Water Act in USA for Great Britain. Unfortunately, the references that I wanted to look at are in journals that I don’t have access to. They are listed below: 1) Cleaning the Clyde- a Century of progress, and 2) River Pollution prevention: Historical. Does Great Britain have a federal environmental protection agency like EPA that oversee the water resources? What I am trying to show is that the British government itself has failed its responsibility to manage the sustainability its environment such as its water resources. It has to collaborate with other governing bodies as the water pollution has become a global issue.  I understand that it a complex issue but if I stick with historical aspect where it starts with one act leading to another and another until there is improvement in the water quality  of the bodies of water.  Please read what I wrote below and comment. Thanks.

Alan Bland · Answer

I should have mentioned some of the legislation relating specifically to water resources used for drinking water supplies, since you mentioned it. The most important piece of legislation was the 1963 Water Resources Act, which created the need for abstraction permits, the purpose of which is to protect downstream users of water resources. In the UK we do not have water rights as in the USA, which treat water as property. In the UK, nobody "owns" water - they are only able to use the water if they have an abstraction permit or a riparian right of use for non-consumptive purposes. Once we became part of the EU, we had a requirement to form river basin agencies and to produce water resources plans, but these were already in place as a result of the 1963 Water Resources Act, which also created River Authorities organised on a river basin basis.

Alan Bland · Answer

It's disappointing that you want to show that Britain "has failed to manage the sustainability its environment such as its water resources" when clearly you know virtually nothing about our management. The most important legislative influences on our water resources and investments in environment improvements occurred during the last 40 years, when the UK was a member of the European Union and had to comply with European Directives. There is a long list of these, but the most important are The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD), the Drinking Water Directive, the Bathing Water Directive. the Habitats Directive, and the Shellfish Directive. Following first drafting of these directives, all have been subsequently revised to tighten the standards, so there has been a significant ongoing investment in the UK during the last 40 years, totalling many billions of GBP. As an example, the UWWTD initially required primary treatment of coastal discharges unless the waters offshore were labelled "sensitive" and lacking adequate dilution from offshore currents. Later, all coastal discharges required secondary treatment and, with the improving standards required by the Bathing Water Directive, UV disinfection. Another important aspect is environmental regulation. We do indeed have a body equivalent to the EPA, which in England and Wales is the EA or Environment Agency. A similar body operates in Scotland (SEPA, or the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency). These came into existence when the water industry was privatised in England and Wales by the 1979 Water Act. Previously, water pollution prevention was managed by the predecessor Water Authorities, but river management functions were excluded from the privatisation and a National Rivers Authority was created. 5 years later, under the 1995 Environment Act, the NRA was merged with Her Majesty's Pollution Inspectorate (which dealt with non-water pollution) to create the EA. Prior to UK's membership of the EU and publication of the above Directives, the UK was not negligent as far as environmental protection was concerned (e.g. the 1974 Control of Pollution Act, which set new standards for the health of rivers), but had a long way to go to mitigate the effects of our industrial past. Many of our river estuaries were lifeless due to industrial and domestic discharges commenced in the 19th century with the the Industrial Revolution. Work on the River Thames progressively improved its quality and it continues today with the Thames Tideway Scheme, which is costing 22 billion GBP. The purpose of this is to intercept intermittent storm discharges and treat them downstream. There have been other such schemes, e.g. for the Mersey estuary and the Tyne estuary, which now has a good  head of migrating salmon annually, when previously it supported no life and stank in hot weather.

AK Shyam · Answer

Regulations governing water for any country broadly is the same except minor geographical variations and the extent of misuse.  Now that the commodity has been over exploited, every country has to gear up to the newer situation and understandably, therefore need to bring in applicable solutions depending upon the abuse each country has caused.  Water being the essence of living, it attracts greater attention than any other commodity / resource on earth.

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