National Highways (NH) has published its 2030 Water Quality Plan. It sets out a high-level programme of work to mitigate all high-risk outfalls by 2030.

There are 1,236 outfalls & soakaways identified by NH as having a potential high risk of pollution. Of these, 145 have a verified high risk of pollution and therefore require mitigation whilst the remaining 1,091 are unverified and have been identified as having a ‘potential’ high risk of polluting the water environment.

This Plan sets out a high-level programme of work that achieves the plan to mitigate all high-risk outfalls by 2030. The focus in the remaining period of Road Period 2 (2020-2025) is to:

• Verify the potential high-risk status for all unverified high-risk locations
• Maximise delivery opportunities for mitigation of confirmed high risk locations
• Confirm a baseline and target level of delivery for the next Road Period 3 – (RP3 2025 – 2030)
• Put in place programme management and delivery arrangements to do this.

Delivery in RP3 will be subject to funding being agreed through RIS3. Targeted activities are set out for how NH will prioritise activity in the remaining years of RP2 (2023-2025) and which are achievable within current funding levels.