The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England has launched a new consultation on new, long-term environmental targets announced by the government.

The proposed targets are a cornerstone of the government’s Environment Act which passed into law in November last year. The Environment Act 2021 requires the government to set at least one long-term target in each of the following areas: air quality; water; biodiversity; and resource efficiency and waste reduction.

Alongside the consultation, the government is also setting out new proposals in a Nature Recovery Green Paper to support its ambitions to restore nature and halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.

 Environment Secretary, George Eustice said:

“These proposed targets are intended to set a clear, long-term plan for nature’s recovery. In a post EU era we now have the freedom to move towards a system that focuses on nature’s recovery as well as its preservation, and which places more emphasis on science and less emphasis on legal process. This change in approach will help us in the pursuit of the targets we are setting under the Environment Act.”

Defra said the new targets on water quality will tackle the most significant pressures on the water environment and help unlock the most serious challenges to clean up England’s rivers and support wider ambitions under the Water Framework Directive, and in the 25 Year Environment Plan for clean and plentiful water.

Target proposals to improve water quality and availability

In the 25 Year Environment Plan the Government committed to restoring three quarters of water bodies to be close to their natural state “as soon as is practicable.” It also committed to increasing water supply and incentivising greater water efficiency and reduced personal use.

Proposed targets:

Abandoned metal mines target:

• Reduce the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by target substances from abandoned mines by 50% by 2037 against a baseline of around 1,500km.

Across England, about 1,500km of rivers are polluted by abandoned metal mines. Metal mines are the most significant source of metal pollution in rivers. Impacted rivers are polluted by high concentrations of at least one of the following substances: cadmium, nickel, lead, copper, zinc or arsenic.

Nutrient targets:

to address the two principal sources of nutrient pollution by 2037:

• Reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture to the water environment by at least 40% by 2037 against a 2018 baseline.
• Reduce phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80% by 2037 against a 2020 baseline.

Agriculture and wastewater are together the biggest sources of nutrient pollution in the water environment. Nutrients enter the water environment through run-off and leaching from agricultural land, accounting for an estimated 70% of nitrate inputs to rivers, lakes and groundwaters, and 25% of the phosphorus load in rivers and lakes.

Over the last two decades, phosphorus in wastewater discharged into rivers has reduced by 67%. However, monitoring shows that there is still far too much phosphorus entering the water environment, and that water companies are still the largest source of this nutrient pollution.

The targets represent a high level of ambition and will rely on making maximum use of the tools available in the new environmental land management schemes. In over 40 years between 1974 and 2018, surface water nitrate concentrations were reduced only slightly.

Water demand:

• Reduce the use of public water supply in England per head of population by 20% by 2037 against a 2019/20 baseline.

Two possible metrics have been considered: Distribution Input, and Distribution Input over population. Distribution Input (DI) is the total amount of treated water supplied to customers through water companies’ distribution network. This includes public water supply to households and non-households, as well as water lost through leakage, but does not include non-potable water supplies.

The Government has suggested using the metric of DI over population, as this indicates the level of water used per person in England and will help to measure and improve water efficiency trends over time.

According to the consultation paper, this target would take into consideration the uncertainty around future population, housing needs and economic growth.

The proposed level of ambition aims to deliver the reduction in water demand needed to meet the expected pressure on the public water supply. An additional 4,000 million litres of water a day is expected to be required by 2050 - two thirds of this capacity is expected to be met by demand reduction.

The proposed targets will now be subject to an eight week consultation period where government will seek the views of environment groups, local authorities and stakeholders.

Deadline to comment on the proposals is 11^th May 2022 – click here to access the consultation online