Issues for Lancashire

Waste and Natural Resources

The amount of waste produced in Lancashire continues to rise. A 37% increase in household and domestic waste has been observed between 1990 and 2000, and in 2001-2002, Lancashire produced almost 840,000 tonnes of municipal waste.

During the period 2004-2005 Lancashire recycled 19.9% of its waste, and composted 11%. These figures show an improvement in recycling rates in the county compared to 2003-2004 levels. However, a significant proportion of waste is still being sent to landfill, and we need to continue to improve recycling rates if we are to reduce our reliance on landfill sites.

Additional natural resource issues include the extenisve mineral resources in Lancashire, the most important of which are construction materials such as limestone, sand and gravel. Mineral operations have negative implications for the landscape character and local ecology.

Although peat extration is limited in Lancashire, any extraction that does take place has major adverse implications on the landscape character and habitats.

Water Supply

Although Lancashire receives above average rainfall for the country, recent years have shown a fall in the amount of stored water for drinking use. This is the result of a combination of factors including droughts, and an increasing demand for water supply.

Supply and demand forecasts by United Utilities predict that a deficit in water supply in the North West will occur from 2009 if current trends do not change.

Water Quality

The Environment Agency is responsible for controlling and monitoring water quality in the region. They use a method called the General Quality Assessment scheme (GQA), which was introduced to examine stretches of freshwater in terms of their chemical, biological, nutrient and aesthetic qualities.

The industrial past of the North West has had a big impact on water quality. 10 years ago, over one quarter of the North West’s rivers were too polluted to support any fish, and the North West region had 204 km of river courses graded as ‘bad’ (in terms of the above GQA characteristics) by the Environment Agency. However, this is now all changing, and in recent years, water quality has improved.

Results from the North West region General Quality Assessments in 2004 show:

• 92% of the rivers in the region are of good or fair chemical quality.
• 89% are of good or fair biological quality.
• 10% have very high levels of nitrate.
• 28% have high levels of phosphate.

This is a vast improvement, compared to 1990 levels, when the water quality assessment recorded only 73.2% of rivers in the North West as having good or fair chemical quality, and just 64.5% as having good or fair biological quality.

However, despite these improvements, there is a lot of work left to do. The North West region still has the highest proportion of poor and bad quality rivers in the country, and accounts for 17% of Englands most polluted rivers.

The contribution of industrial sources to water pollution has reduced in the North West, and now the major threat to water quality arises from pollutants being washed into rivers from other sources. In towns and cities for example, pollution from roads, and pavements is important, while in the countryside, nutrients from agricultural land use can be washed into rivers.

Coastal Water

The total length of Lancashire’s coatline is 418.34 km. This large coastal resource is important for landscape character and biodiversity. An example of this is the Ribble Estuary, which is an important site for breeding wildfowl, and supports one of the largest migrating bird populations in Britian. Lancashire’s coastal regions are also an important resource in boosting the economy of the region through activities like tourism and fishing. There are however, a number of pressures on Lancashire’s coastal regions including pollution from a range of sources, and the increasing risk of flooding from climate change.

Coastal water quality is improving in the North West region, and we are currently enjoying the best bathing water quality for over 20 years.

In 2005, 35 out of the 37 (95%) bathing waters in the North West were in line with the mandatory European standards. The only area to fail in Lancashire was Morecambe South. This represents a huge improvement compared to 1990-1992 where none of the beaches in Lancashire passed the mandatory standard. 8 (22%) of the beaches sampled in the North West also achieved the higher, more stringent guideline standard, this included Fleetwood in Lancashire and Bispham in the Blackpool unitary area. Targets have now been set to achieve 50% complience with the higher guideline standard.

For more information visit the water quality section on Environment Agency’s website.