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THE STATE OF SCOTLAND'S FARMED ENVIRONMENT 2005

15. THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

On October 23 2000, the “ Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy” was adopted. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC applies to all water in the natural environment – that is all rivers, lochs, estuaries and coastal waters as well as water under the ground. The Directive repeals and replaces a number of older EC water Directives and incorporates the remaining existing water Directives (the Bathing Water, Nitrates and Urban Waste Water Treatment Directives) into its framework through its protected areas provisions. The “Natura” Directives on the protection of Habitats and Birds are also linked to this Directive by virtue of the protected area provisions. It came into force on 22 December 2000 and the Executive transposed the Directive into Scottish law through the Water Environment and Water Services (WEWS) (Scotland) Act 2003 developed in 2003 (SEERAD, 2005a). The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive have taken a lead in Europe in transposing the Directive – Scotland was the first country to translate the provisions of the WFD into a national law. The Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Executive, the environmental non-government organisations and others worked together to build a piece of legislation that does not only meet the basic requirements of the WFD, but goes beyond these requirements in a number of areas, strengthening the legislation. The Scottish legislation commits to the protection of wetlands, introduces sustainable flood management, provides for the principles of public participation and extends the provisions of WFD to three nautical miles into the sea instead of one. The WEWS Act is administered by the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). SEPA is the lead organisation in implementing the WFD in Scotland.

Water Framework Directive - Aims >>