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Title: Moston Brook Summary Report for the Evidence and Measures Project
Author: Paul Hulme
Author: Nick Rukin
Author: pjHYDRO Water Management
Author: rUKhydro Limited
Document Type: Monograph
Annotation: Report Reference (Project/Document/Version): 2029/R1F1
Abstract:
Purpose: This document has been prepared to accompany a number of presentations and other outputs from the Moston Brook Evidence and Measures (E+M) Project undertaken between September 2012 and March 2013, which was commissioned by the Environment Agency. The project was undertaken to collect evidence and then help stakeholders agree the main causes of poor WFD status (primarily water quality) before moving on to identify measures to improve the water quality and amenity value of the brook. This document provides a broad overview and commentary on the approach taken and the projects findings. The problem: Moston Brook was selected for this project because it is considered to be one of the most difficult failing waterbodies under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It is located within the River Irwell catchment, which is a pilot WFD catchment. Moston Brooks Water Framework Directive (WFD) status is given by the Ecological Quality which is Moderate Potential with the potential to achieve good ecological status by 2027. The following water quality elements fail: ammonia, phosphate and dissolved oxygen (DO). It was well-known that there were multiple suspected causes of failure associated with multiple stakeholders, but there was no agreement on the key causes of WFD failure, where these were located and who was responsible for dealing with them. Objective: the project objective, adapted from the Projects Statement of Requirement (Environment Agency, 2012), was to help stakeholder devise reliable measures which are based on existing evidence and that could be implemented in years 2 and 3 by the Environment Agency and its partners to help meet Water Framework Directive (WFD) requirements and community aspirations. Results: between September 2012 and March 2013, 35 participants from 11 organisations took part in two half-day meetings and two one-day workshops. Data and reports were collated, lines of evidence were reviewed, plotted and analysed, and the results presented in Evidence Packs at the two workshops. At the first workshop (Causes Workshop), participants reached consensus on the main causes of WFD failure by considering the Evidence Packs. The agreed main causes of WFD failure in each sub-catchment are shown in the table below and described in more detail in Section 4. At the second workshop (Measures Workshop), participants agreed on a list of 67 measures which target these main causes of failure for submission into partners business plans for allocation of funding.
Publisher: Environment Agency
Publication Date: 2013
Extent: 44; + 3 appendices
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4273
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