What are environmental standards and conditions used for?

We use environmental standards and conditions to manage the water environment.

Environmental standards help us work out how much water could be abstracted from a body of water, how much of a pollutant could be discharged and how much engineering work could be undertaken without significant risks to the health of the plants and animals that live in the water.

For example, suppose an environmental standard specifies that the concentration of a particular chemical in the water environment should be less than 20 milligrams per litre. Suppose we monitor the concentration of that particular chemical in a body of water and find that it is currently only 12 milligrams per litre. Our assessment would be that the chemical is not posing a significant risk to the health of the plants and animals in the water body.

On the other hand, suppose a new discharge is proposed and we predict that it would increase the average concentration of the chemical in the water body by 15 milligrams per litre to 27 milligrams per litre. Such a concentration would pose a significant risk to the health of the plants and animals in the water body.

We use such risk assessments as the basis for setting permit limits. For example, when we issue a licence for an abstraction, we will specify in the licence the amount of water the holder of the licence can abstract from the water environment. Before deciding on this amount, we will assess whether the amount of water to be abstracted would pose a significant risk to the health of the water environment and take into account the amounts of water already being abstracted.