Bob Harris Catchment Science Centre University of Sheffield

1. Always The Bridesmaid…Overcoming the Challenges of Integrating Groundwater Issues into Land Use Planning. Bob Harris Catchment Science Centre University of Sheffield

2. Groundwater • Groundwater is invariably “out of sight” and remains “out of mind”; • Due to our lack of connecting it with land use (planning) we have allowed groundwater to deteriorate….. • WFD changes our focus on water resources; • Groundwater can now be seen not only as a source of water supply but a major driver of surface water ecological status.

3. In the UK 50% of abstracted groundwaters now require treatment before distribution Cumulative volumes of water company supplied groundwater affected by quality problems requiring action for period 1975 – 2004. From UKWIR/EA R&D Project 2004

4. Groundwater • Groundwater is invariably “out of sight” and remains “out of mind”; • Due to lack of connection with land use we have allowed groundwater to deteriorate; • WFD changes our focus on water resources; • Groundwater can now be seen not only as a source of water supply but a major driver of surface water ecological status.

5. Groundwater should be considered as part of the WFD River Basin Planning process - 3 phases of RBP so far: • water and health/sanitisation provision (19th Century to 1980s) • pollution prevention and control (1970s to 1990s) • sustainable development (2000 onwards)

6. Groundwater for drinking • Variable use of groundwater across Europe - geology, climate, practice, culture. • Traditional protection from point source pollution threats - burial grounds, septic tanks, waste disposal etc • Philosophy of stopping/reducing sources of pollution accepted. • From 1900-1960s Protection Policies introduced prohibition zones for various activities around wells and boreholes.

7. Groundwater for drinking • Diffuse pollution from “modern pollutants” -nutrients (NO3; PO4), pesticides, industrial solvents etc - not so well addressed; • Major sources - industrialisation of agriculture & widespread manufacturing; • In UK philosophy of protecting receptors was adopted (by default) - i.e. treat at the wellhead/before tap; • Now problems in how to deal with diffuse pollution and achieve WFD goals. Nutrients built up in the soil/groundwater system.

8. Rivers Groundwater At Risk Probably at Risk Probably not at Risk Not at Risk Unproductive Strata Not Assessed

9. Predicted nitrate concentrations in groundwater for 2100 1 2 Nitrate mg/l 0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 100 + 3 4

10. Groundwater for the Environment • Most of the world’s fresh waters resources are contained in groundwater; • Aquifers buffer variations in surface flow; • Groundwater sustains (and sometimes drives) river, lake and wetland ecosystems; • Interactions with surface water have to be understood better in the context of achieving the Water Framework Directive (WFD) goals.

12. A river is simply an outcrop of groundwater

13. Groundwater and the WFD • Separate Groundwater Directive deals with “traditional” groundwater issues; • The WFD itself is where the interaction issues must be addressed; • Holistic approach to understanding the issues is required or else the measures (management solutions) may not work; • e.g. issues surrounding “source appointment” with respect to diffuse pollution - do we know where the majority of the problem arises and the major pathway(s) by which it reaches the surface water system?

14. Multiple pressures on a small catchment - the River Tyne river regulation forestry paper mills urban drainage abstraction shipping paper mills chemical industry coal mines hydromorphology sheep dip lead mines acid rain

15. Agricultural Diffuse Pollution SOURCE PATHWAY atmospheric deposition RECEPTOR gaseous emissions animal wastes fertilisers surface flow soil mineralisation retention; cycling; export downstream transport & transformation aquatic ecosystem leaching shallow flow/drain flow retention; cycling; export retention; cycling; transformation; export groundwater groundwater

16. Understanding pollutant flux transport...and addressing solutions is a 4-dimensional problem……. Where does the water come from? - the complexity of highly attenuated travel times in permeable catchments

17. Groundwater and the WFD • Groundwater has to be placed into the context of the River Basin Planning process and considered holistically - along with other environmental compartments (soil, surface water and their associated ecology - and social and economic aspects). • Little sign (in UK at least) that this is being achieved yet; still a compartmentalised approach in 1st round of River Basin Planning.

18. The costs of doing nothing are large • total external environmental costs of agriculture in the UK from diffuse pollution from chemicals (and eroded soil) have been estimated as £2.3 billion in 1996 prices (Pretty et al,2002). • The approximate annual costs of treating drinking water: • pesticides £120 million; phosphate & soil £55 million; nitrate £16 million; micro-organisms £23 million. • But we need better ways of evaluating the benefits - not just in terms of costs to drinking water provision.

19. Valuing Groundwater • Concept of valuing the ecosystem goods and services provided is promising but no-one has worked out how to do this yet! • Useful if we can because it can be applied holistically across river basin/catchment to all environmental compartments; • A potential way to link to socio-economic planning issues; • Has to be placed within a new philosophical approach that links to the WFD.

20. The challenges in the UK • Water and river ecosystems have little identifiable “value” in UK society; • We have lost the connectivity of people to their (environmental) surroundings - who knows where “their” catchment is and how they relate to or influence it? • Lots of river reach/field scale activity locally, but we work a top-down/national system; there is no co-ordination nor any buy-in to develop a more innovative/holistic approach; • Our river basins districts do not lend themselves to large scale joined-up planning - geographically and institutionally; • Science/research is not involved.

21. So what do we do? • The River Basin Planning process is an opportunity, but not yet being grasped through a lack of vision; • Currently seen a means to an ends - implementation of RBP Round 1 with least cost/disruption - “best endeavours”; • We’re at the wrong scale. It needs a bottom-up involvement connected to top-down buy-in/encouragement; • To reap any benefits we need to rethink the consequences of WFD implementation…. not in terms of a job to do, but as a new start; a new and more efficient approach to land use and resource planning.

22. Or we won’t achieve Good Ecological Status by 2027… let alone 2015

23. A new concept - Integrated Catchment Management Integrated Catchment Management is a process that recognises the catchment as the appropriate organising unit for understanding and managing ecosystem processes… - in a context that includes social, economic and political considerations, and - guides communities towards an agreed vision of sustainable land and water resource management for their catchment Motueka River catchment, New Zealand

24. ICM as a Way of Thinking & Linking after Bowden 1999

25. ICM as a Spatial-Temporal Link Acknowledgements: Paul Quinn, Unv of Newcastle

26. Benefits of ICM • More holistic appreciation of land. • Integration of social and economic needs with natural ecosystems and the long term use of natural resources. • Clearer identification of roles and responsibilities for implementation. • Development of structures and mechanisms for co-ordination and cooperation. • Development of social commitment and cohesion. • Focus for attracting technical and financial resources allowing better utilization of local resources. • Provides a forum for local interests and can result in early identification of potential problems. • Provides a forum for feedback to Government. • Healthier catchments = healthy environment. • More robust communities Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia

27. So far we have tried to… • understand groundwater as a resource; • largely focusing on groundwater and the underground environment; • protect its use for drinking from adverse affects largely by limiting/controlling the sources; • Increasingly relying on modeling to overcome the uncertainties of heterogeneity and caused by an inherent lack of data

28. In Future • We have to balance resource use and the needs of whatever ecosystem societies determine they should have - in the face of climate/global change; • Can only succeed in managing this successfully if we: • have a systemic understanding of the biogeochemical processes - both above and below ground (and also understand societies’ needs!) • and manage the “overall” system as a whole

29. But we need… • Groundwater recognised by others/other disciplines as important/an important influence • e.g. the fourth dimension; • More/better understanding; cheaper ways of getting data; • Science to really inform policy-making; • better engagement of science and those who develop policies and/or manage - or at least understanding of the interactions.

30. …and a New Breed of “Catchment Scientists” is needed • to face the challenges of: • Scaling up - micro to macro • Working conceptually in 4-dimensions - the time element in pollutant flux transport • Understanding the linkages between environmental compartments - which ones are driving ecosystem responses? • Linking Natural Sciences with Socio-Economics - language and culture barriers • Translating to/from the users, the publics