HOW TO FIND OUT WHAT THE RBMP MEANS FOR MY RIVER
Although the consultation has now closed, you can still find out what the Environment Agency assessments have revealed about your river. To do this you will need to go to ANNEX B.
In order to find out what the Environment Agency assessments have revealed about your river you will need to go to ANNEX B.
ANNEX B
Annex B contains all the water body specific information that is available following EA assessments and sets out the target status for each water body in the RBD (by 2015). The information is presented in tables; one table for each water body. It is organised so that the tables are grouped by catchment.
Finding your river in Annex B may prove a challenge in itself, but the easiest way is to follow these 5 steps.
1. Go to http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wfd
2. Click on your region, ie South West (bottom of page)
3. Click on B - Objectives for waters
4. Click on the relevant catchment on the Map (page 6 or thereabouts) Map title: Catchments in ...River Basin District.
5. Click onto the Map in the area of interest and you will be taken to the water body table for that river.
6. The water body table will either be at good status or given a reason why it isn't at good status with a code. Download this small CSV file to find out what this code means.
Alternatively,
Follow the first 3 steps above and then identify your catchment from the index list in the first few pages. Click on your catchment name and you will be directed to the tables.
For information on how to interpret Annex B please see our guidance notes for your River Basin Management Plan, accessible from the bottom of this page.
When looking at specific information about your water body you may want to consider a couple of questions. Has the term disproportionately expensive/costly been used to justify inaction on your river? If so you might want to ask the EA – What measure has been considered disproportionately costly?
Similarly, if the term technically infeasible has been used to justify inaction you might want to ask for further information about why the problem is currently unsolvable and what actions have been considered to get around the problem.
THE OTHER ANNEXES
ANNEX A
This describes how and where the Environment Agency monitors your River Basin, which forms the basis for their decision making under the WFD. This information is detailed on maps but they are very “busy” and hard to relate to your river. But in A3 it does illustrate by means of a simple flow diagram the different Ecological Status Classes that bring us to Good Ecological Status (which can help in understanding what the EA think of your river). For those further interested it does show how rivers in your River Basin are classified by catchment and geology which can give you a better understanding of the type of flora and fauna that you should expect to see in your river.
ANNEX C
This Annex is catchment based only and provides more detail than Annex B tables on the intended actions (Programmes of Measures) for the catchments and the partners identified. It also lists what the EA would like to do if it was more confident that it had identified problems correctly and the measures to be used to combat them. This Annex is more difficult to get to grips with but definitely worth while if you would like to get involved with WFD in the future.
ANNEX D
Sets out the actions needed to improve protected areas by 2015, there are a number of different protected areas covered but the Natura 2000 sites (Special protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation) are probably of most interest
Please note that, depending on the length of river, there may be several sections of the river described as different water bodies. It is important that you look for all of the sections that you know.
To access your River Basin Management Plan and guidance notes click on the relevant link below:
