The Environment Agency has published an enforcement position (RPS260) for wetlands that receive treated final effluent discharged from water and sewerage company wastewater treatment works.

Water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) cannot use this regulatory position statement (RPS). It sets out the Environment Agency’s enforcement position for nutrient treatment wetlands (NTWs) operated by parties other than WaSCs. The NTW must provide additional treatment to improve the treated final effluent discharged from a WaSC wastewater treatment works.

This RPS does not change your legal requirement to get an environmental permit for a waste operation for a NTW. However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action when you operate without an environmental permit if you comply with the requirements in this RPS.

Useful new briefing note

Wetlands International, IUCN, WWT, WWF, and Birdlife International have produced a briefing note on how the protection and restoration of inland waters should feature in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), including global wetland restoration targets of at least 300,000 km of rivers and 350 million hectares of inland water ecosystems by 2030.

Although now only accounting for around 6% of the Earth’s surface area, wetlands sustain a disproportionately high diversity of life, with approximately 40% of all known plant and animal species living or breeding in inland waters.

Adequate recognition of inland waters or wetlands in the text of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), especially in Targets 1, 2, and 3, is critical to addressing the risk that inland waters are neglected when it comes to implementation.

Read more and download the briefing note here.