B4.10 Future Developments
You do not need detailed knowledge of legislation for the exam.
Please note that due to the IEMA ending the course, this section is no longer being up-dated.
Approximately two thirds of your body is made of water. Your brain is made up of approximately 85% water and your bones are approximately 33% water.
Flood and Water Management Act 2010
The Act aims to improve both flood risk management and the way we manage our water resources.
According to DEFRA, The Act provides for better, more comprehensive management of flood risk for people, homes and businesses, helps safeguard community groups from unaffordable rises in surface water drainage charges and protects water supplies to the consumer.
The Act implements Sir Michael Pitt’s recommendations requiring urgent legislation, following his review of the 2007 floods.
Serious flooding can happen any time. Climate projections suggest extreme weather will happen more frequently in the future. This Act is central to reducing the flood risk associated with extreme weather.
The Act will need to be commenced by ministerial order before it comes into effect; however, it is important to recognize many of the authorities who will have new duties and powers under the Act are already getting on with managing flood risk.
The first parts of this act came into force in 2011.
For information regarding the implementation in England, please refer to the Environment Agency:
For information regarding the implementation in Wales, please refer to the Welsh Assembly:
http://cymru.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/flooding/floodwaterbill/?lang=en
The Water Resources Act 1991 Regulations 2009 (Amendment)
The purpose is to ensure that England and Wales are able properly to comply with the obligations imposed by Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for
Community action in the field of water policy (the Water Framework Directive).
These regulations will regulate pollution from agriculture more strongly by extending the use of Water Protection Zones (WPZs) and Works Notices (WNs).
WPZs are areas designated to control activities that can cause water pollution. At the moment, the only WPZ is the River Dee catchment in Wales.
WNs are used by the Environment Agency to recover from the polluter the cost of
removing pollution and restoring water quality.
The new regulations will:
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Allow WPZs to be used to protect the physical structure and flow conditions of rivers.
- Allow WPZs to be used to control polluting or damaging activities where existing regulations fail to protect water quality.
- Enable works notices to be used to restore water quality if the river bed or banks are damaged.
The regulations should improve the water quality of water bodies by, in particular, the control of diffuse pollution and the protection and improvement of the hydromorphological quality elements of such bodies.
Hydromorphological quality elements include physical characteristics of water bodies, such as quantity and dynamics of flow; shape, width, depth and pattern of the channel; and condition of beds, banks and riparian zone (in the case of rivers) and shores (in the case of lakes and coastal waters). These interact with and affect the biological and chemical quality of water.
Water is the only substance that actually gets bigger as it gets colder. As water freezes and turns into ice it increases in volume.