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This work helps the UK and Ireland fulfil their statutory duties to assess and improve the state of freshwater ecosystems. EU legislation requires all water bodies to be managed sustainably to achieve a state close to that of the water body in its natural state. Research in Geography at Newcastle has pioneered the use of diatoms (microscopic algae) in lakes and rivers to describe the ecological characteristics of this natural state and developed models and software that allow deviation from this state to be assessed. The model and database are used by all water agencies in the UK and Republic of Ireland to fulfil their statutory requirements and have led to new environmental standards that indicate that over 40% of the total length of UK rivers is at risk from elevated phosphorus concentrations.
Research at Loughborough University (LU) from 2000-2013 by Dr Wood and Professor Wilby has enabled Natural England, the Environment Agency of England and Wales, and the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland, to implement European Directives (Water Framework, Habitats, and Groundwater). Benefits were accrued from the development of monitoring techniques and integrated modelling to understand long-term drivers of ecological status in river systems. This research has been translated into field standards and planning guidelines within the UK water sector. Moreover, this work helped other organisations such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF-UK) to raise public awareness of the consequences of household water use on freshwater environments.
The primary mission of the Centre for River Ecosystem Science (CRESS: http://www.cress.stir.ac.uk/index.html) is to build and translate scientific evidence into advice to end-users and policy makers in river management, both nationally and internationally. Site-based advice, design and monitoring have been provided to 55 projects, including award-winning river engineering schemes. Independently, our research in community ecology, fluvial geomorphology and agricultural pollutants has supported an outstanding contribution to the UKs response to the key EU Environmental Directives — Water Framework, Flooding, Species & Habitats and Bathing Waters. We have developed the official tools that are now used to determine the status of freshwaters and structure catchment management plans, and trained others in their use, have pioneered risk assessments and modelling of nutrient, pathogen or carbon losses, publicised their effects, scoped mitigation options though engaging with end-users, and steered the pan-European comparison of bio-assessment methods that now underpins common water policy.
Good quality water is essential for life on earth. The `Centre for Intelligent Environmental Systems' (CIES) has developed computer-based solutions for the assessment of river water quality by environmental agencies, working to improve the quality. CIES research has informed discussions and decisions of the UK Technical Advisory Group for the Water Framework Directive (UKTAG WFD). UKTAG WFD have selected the WHPT (Walley, Hawkes, Paisley & Trigg) method, for assessing river water quality throughout the UK, in the context of river management to meet the targets set in the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC from the European Union), which the UK government signed up to in 2000 (Beneficiaries: UKTAG WFD; Environment agencies; The public). Indirect impacts can also be attributed to CIES research, as it enables improvements of river quality, which triggers positive impacts on the natural environment, public health and quality of life (Beneficiaries: The public). CIES software has also been released to environment agency biologists as second opinion tools, thereby resulting in improved delivery of the public service provided by these biologists, when they use the software (Beneficiaries: Environment agencies; Environment agency biologists; The public).
The OPAL Water Centre at UCL, funded to a total of £732k, developed an innovative educational national water survey programme accessible to people of all ages and abilities, promoted especially within disadvantaged communities. Of the more than 45,000 participants, 17% were from 'hard to reach' communities. The Survey encouraged greater understanding of the aquatic environment through public participation in water quality and aquatic biodiversity assessment and used high-quality research to link the community, voluntary and statutory sectors by creating a channel through which locally derived information could lead to site-specific management as well as national and international policy.
New approaches to analysing and modelling water systems, developed at Cardiff, have driven national policy changes to improve the proportion of fully functioning water ecosystems in the UK. UK Government, Welsh Government and a range of NGOs have adopted these new approaches, which replace traditional descriptive methods with experimental, analytical and modeling techniques for understanding water ecosystems.
These approaches have been used to develop the water-related component of the National Ecosystem Assessment. This document has directly impacted on UK river management policy, forming the basis of two Defra White papers, `Natural Choice' and `Water for Life', underpinning Welsh Government's Natural Environment Framework and informing the work of a range of NGOs.
The development and marketing of the Chemcatcher passive sampler has significantly improved the way water quality is monitored. These cost-effective devices are either used alongside or can replace established approaches that rely on infrequent spot or bottle sampling. We have contributed to the development of national and international standards for the use of passive samplers, and the dissemination of results to end users has facilitated the uptake of passive sampling technology worldwide. Our passive samplers have been used to monitor a diverse range of environmental problems, from pharmaceuticals in drinking water to the release of radioactive caesium after the Fukushima nuclear reactor incident in Japan.
Research by Rowan and ERG colleagues Black, Bragg, Cutler, Duck has addressed the science and policy challenges faced by statutory authorities meeting their duty to implement the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000. Assessing the sensitivity of aquatic systems to physical, chemical and biological pressures is the central theme, and through a series of commissioned projects funded by UK environment and conservation agencies, the research has:
The advanced information management research of the Department of Digital Humanities (DDH) has led to a better understanding of pollution processes in inland waterways and lakes. It has also improved the standard of water quality information that is available to government and regulatory authorities. The information management framework which DDH has provided supports government-funded activities to improve environmental standards and has helped ensure that the UK Environment Agency is able to comply with the EU's Water Framework Directive, reducing the risk of financial penalties for non-compliance. Moreover, key and accurate evidence about water quality has been made freely available to beneficiaries, including governmental and non-governmental agencies, farmers and land managers, and the general public.
Quaternary Science research undertaken at Royal Holloway examined the environmental archives provided by ancient rivers, now preserved in part as extensive sand and gravel deposits. In so doing, the research identified the former courses of major Pleistocene river systems in England, in particular the now-extinct Bytham river, the largest in England until its obliteration by the ice sheets of the Anglian glaciation c. 450,000 years ago. The research concerned the geographical extent and quality of these Pleistocene river deposits, as well as their palaeo-environmental context, age and archaeology. The interlinked impacts of the research have been: a) economic, via the identification of resources of economic value to the aggregates industry; and b) cultural, via enhancing heritage preservation in England's sand and gravel quarries.
Firstly, then, the research has a direct economic benefit for the UK aggregates industry, which has used the results on Bytham river deposits to predict the location and viability of aggregates resources. This has resulted in new quarries, and in the extension of existing quarries, with a value of aggregate production circa £50m in the assessment period. These impacts were facilitated in part by the Department's close working relationships with a number of quarrying companies. A wider economic impact on the aggregates industry was also delivered through significant changes to the British Geological Survey maps that form an important basis for quarry development.
A second impact of the research has been the enhancing of heritage preservation. The Department's relationship with the quarrying industry has had a direct effect on the archaeological and geodiversity policy that regulates its economic activity. Royal Holloway took a leading role in the English Heritage supported National Ice Age Network (NIAN) which engaged the aggregate industry, quarry workers and members of the public in the task of recognising, recording and preserving Pleistocene remains in England's sand and gravel quarries. During the assessment period, NIAN, expert advice from Royal Holloway staff and other dissemination of research has shaped ongoing heritage policy in relation to quarrying and Pleistocene and Palaeolithic remains.