These Regulations create four legally binding long-term targets in the priority area of water, which address nutrient pollution from agriculture and wastewater, a target to reduce the concentration of metals in rivers from abandoned metal mines, and a target to reduce water demand.
The long-term targets within these Regulations seek to address specific pressures that are causing harm to the water environment and tackle some of the serious challenges that remain in achieving the ambition in the 25 Year Environment Plan of clean and plentiful water. The new targets will complement the existing targets in the 25 Year Environment Plan, and do not replace them. Freshwater species make up 22% of indicator species for the Environment Act species abundance target, so the targets will have a considerable positive impact on biodiversity recovery.
