How is significant pollution of the water environment defined?
Section 78A(9) of Part IIA defines pollution of the water environment in terms of the direct or indirect introduction into the water environment of substances which may give rise to harm to human health or the quality of aquatic ecosystems or terrestrial ecosystems directly depending on aquatic ecosystems, result in damage to material property or impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the water environment. The term “water environment” is itself defined in the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (“WEWS Act”), which gave Scottish Ministers powers to introduce regulatory controls over activities in order to protect and improve Scotland’s water environment. Why are there no standards for cleaning up contaminated land? The regime establishes a site-specific risk based approach and does not provide for the establishment of statutory standards. Remediation objectives will be established for individual sites based on an assessment of the risks pos
