The Gibraltar River Basin Management Plan is a national policy with a cross-sectoral approach. The timeframe of the Plan is 6 years between 2015 and 2021. The overall objective of the River Basin Management Plan is to protect all water bodies in river basin districts to prevent deterioration, to protect and enhance aquatic ecosystems, promote sustainable use of water to protect water resources in the long term, enhance protection and improvement of the water environment through a progressive reduction in pollution, and to mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts. The water environment including rivers, lakes, groundwater, transitional waters and coastal waters in Gibraltar is divided into water bodies to facilitate determination of existing water quality and management of the objectives and actions required. Water quality monitoring and reporting shall be carried out by the Environmental Agency to ensure sustainable use and high level protection of water bodies. River basin management will be strengthened with integration into the urban land use planning, flood risk and coastal erosion management, and marine planning. Taking into account the important benefits to human health, human safety and sustainable development, water bodies may be modified in an environmentally sustainable manner to provide public water supply, hydropower generation, and to prevent flood. Measures will be taken to prevent deterioration in ecological status for all water bodies and reduce pollution from priority substances and cease discharges, emissions and losses of priority hazardous substances. To this end, water environment will be protected against hazardous chemicals and sediments arising from sewage discharges, industrial discharges, shipping and historical contamination, combined sewer overflows, and land use in urban areas. Furthermore the impacts associated with urban run-off will be reduced through the promotion of sustainable development and the use of sustainable drainage systems for managing surface water in both new and existing development. Public awareness will be raised on water efficiency and water savings, in order to minimize the volume of wastewater produced and discharged to the sea. Climate change adaptation and mitigation will be ensured in river basin management by observing trends in climatic factors that are having impacts on the water environment. Preventive measures will be taken to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, conserve energy and protect and enhance the natural environment, through the adoption of a balanced partnership approach, encouraging all sectors of the community to play their part, focus on flexible and cost effective policy options, and monitoring the need for Gibraltar to adapt to possible impacts of climate change in line with EU's Kyoto commitments. Capacity building in climate change adaptation will be enhanced to raise awareness on the importance of preparing for climate change and to expand the knowledge base of the likely impacts of climate change. The Government of Gibraltar, Ministry for the Environment, Department of the Environment and Climate Change shall be primarily responsible for implementation of the River Basin Management Plan in line with Article 13 of the Water Framework Directive.
直布罗陀 (英国) · 2015-09-01