Archived press release

WATER SHAKE-UP NEEDED TO STOP DRAIN ON WETLAND WILDLIFE

10 December 1996

Conservationists are challenging Government to act to prevent our rivers and wetlands being needlessly drained, backed by a new report, published today (Tuesday, December 10).

The report, 'High and Dry', prepared by the Biodiversity Challenge Group, highlights 354 sites where the amount of water being taken from the natural environment is threatening wetlands, rivers and their wildlife.

Poor management of water resources is a serious threat to the countryside and unless urgent action is taken, the report says, Government will be unable to meet its own targets for ensuring the recovery of endangered species and habitats.

The report paints the most comprehensive picture currently available of the threat water abstraction poses to our rivers and wetlands. It highlights 101 rivers affected and 201 top wetland wildlife sites (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) in danger of drying out, due to vast quantities of water being taken for agricultural irrigation or by water companies drawing water for public supply. The report identifies 130 new sites now known to be threatened by abstraction. Thorough research is still needed to assess accurately the scale of the threat as many more wetland habitats could also be at risk.

The Biodiversity Challenge Group challenges Government to:

• undertake a comprehensive review of water abstraction licences to identify all damaging impacts on wildlife by the year 1999

• empower the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to implement a sustainable water resource strategy by the year 2000

• instruct the water industry regulator, OFWAT, to set environmental standards of performance for water companies by 1998

• publish a national action programme for saving water by 1998
• introduce charges for water abstraction by 2000 which ensure that the price abstractors pay for water better reflects the environmental costs of taking water

• issue a Planning Policy Guidance note (PPG) for water resources by 1999 (water availability must be acknowledged as a constraint on development).

Graham Wynne, chairman of the Biodiversity Challenge Group, said: "On the one hand, Government has new plans to improve the status of endangered wildlife. On the other hand, its water policy is putting those same threatened species and habitats at risk. We are challenging Government to put the measures in place that will enable it to meet its own targets for the protection of biodiversity. Our research shows that this problem is posing an ever-increasing threat to the countryside."

Rivers and wetlands threatened by water abstraction include:

The Lower Derwent Valley, North Yorkshire - one of the most important wetlands in Europe, supporting outstanding numbers of wintering and breeding waterfowl. Although the threat of a drought order was narrowly averted this year, the site is still at risk from current abstraction levels.

The Falls of Clyde in South Lanarkshire, a Wildlife Trust reserve, home to otters. Abstraction for hydro-power and sand and gravel extraction is reducing the river and the famous Corra Linn falls to a trickle.

Llyn Tegid, Snowdonia National Park - the largest natural lake in Wales and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it is home to a rare plant, the floating water plantain, as well as an unusual community of fish, including the grayling and whitefish. To meet future water demands there is a proposal to pump water from the lake.

The River Wylye, Wiltshire - a vulnerable chalk stream which should support a rich variety of wildlife. In 1996, a section of the main channel dried up for the first time in living memory. Abstraction from the underground chalk aquifer is thought to be responsible.

The report, priced 7, is available from: Biodiversity Challenge Group, c/o
RSPB Policy Operations Dept,
The Lodge,
Sandy,
Beds SG19 2DL.
Tel: 01767 680551 / fax: 01767 692365.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. A list of case studies highlighted in the report, High and Dry, is attached, together with contact numbers for people with expert knowledge of
the cases in your area.

2. High and Dry is a new report prepared by the Biodiversity Challenge Group. It highlights the damaging effects on wildlife of taking too much
water from the environment. Through High and Dry, the Biodiversity Challenge Group challenges Government to take urgent action to promote
the efficient management of water resources in the UK, and thus to protect threatened rivers and wetlands and the species associated with
them.

3. The UK Biodiversity Steering Group report, approved by Government in May 1996, contains costed action plans for 116 threatened species
and 14 endangered habitats. Of those listed, 47 species are associated with wetlands and six of the endangered habitats are themselves
wetlands.

4. The Biodiversity Challenge Group are: Butterfly Conservation, Friends of the Earth, Plantlife, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds,

The Wildlife Trusts and the World Wide Fund for Nature - UK. The combined memberships of this Group exceed two million people.

High and Dry report - case studies and contact names/ tel numbers for further info:

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust