Economic Activity and its Effect the Quality of the Water Supply - Case Study Example

Economic activity will inevitably effect the quality of the water supply. Does the law in the United Kingdom (EU) ensure a safe supply of drinking water? Introduction Globalization has brought significant changes in the socio-economic and political scenario of the world. It led to fast economic growth by facilitating easy production, processing and marketing of all commodities. It has also opened up the market for as many players as possible and who have taken the initiative to invest. This has also erased the boundaries of trade among several nations with the introduction of World Trade Organization and other associated institutions. However, it has also resulted in some serious negative consequences. Economic profits became the main motive than social and equitable distribution of wealth created. This has resulted in widening the differences between the rich and the poor, may be among persons or nations. United Kingdom is no exception in this regard. UK witnessed tremendous jump in its economic growth rate due to implementation of globalization and liberalization. It took the advantage of early bird syndrome by having the vast experience of industrial revolution and scientific inventions made in science and engineering. In the process, it had to liberalize the licensing policy for establishment of new industries. Keeping this in mind, several organizations were established by various individuals from salt making to space technology. 1981-1990 was declared as International drinking water and sanitation decade for creating awareness among all the functionaries and companies regarding the safety of drinking water. Later it was realized that the environmental pollution has increased tremendously due to these economic activities and organizations neglected the environmental safety and prioritized their respective economic goals (Thornton, 2003). This necessitated the strict implementation of environmental laws on behalf of government in UK. The negative impact of competitiveness of industry under globalization era was more felt in commodities like drinking water where the customers rely on company certification and it would directly affect their physical and mental health. Unfortunately, the companies involved in production and supply of drinking water also indulged in the race of competition and prioritized their economic benefits compared to safety procedures to be followed for maintaining the good quality of drinking water. However, it may be opined that the economic activity will certainly affect he quality of the water supply. Hence it is mandatory for the government to monitor the activities of the concerned companies from time to time and quality of drinking water should be ensured. This also necessitates the balance between the economic activities of companies and quality of water supply. In cases of poor implementation in terms of water quality, the legislation in UK should be active and must ensure safe range of drinking water to customers. Keeping these points in view, the present essay describes the status of environmental law in UK in ensuring supply of safe drinking water to people. Methodology The review of literature related to environmental laws in England, Scotland and Wales was done by collecting some research papers. Review was also made on environmental laws that govern drinking water quality. The international convention reports were also studied specific to environment laws and safe drinking water issues. Performance of drinking water monitoring agencies like Drinking Water Inspectorate was also analyzed. Based on these sources of information, efforts were made to test the theses hypotheses i.e. (I) Economic activity will inevitably effect the quality of the water supply. (II) Does the law in the United Kingdom (EU) ensure a safe supply of drinking water? Analysis I Yes. It is true that economic activity will inevitably affect the quality of the water supply. This is because of globalization and liberalization policies followed in the recent years. The global players aim more at their economic benefits than quality standards in drinking water. During the phase of higher demand for drinking water, these companies in UK aimed at faster marketing than regulating their supply with an objective of cost minimization and profit maximization. This scenario is similar for both the tap water and bottled water supplying companies. The critical limits of metals, pesticides and micro organisms for safe drinking water are not followed strictly at all levels by water supply companies in UK and other nations. Hence there is a strong necessity to develop a legal framework that controls the activities of these companies and helps in their regulation of safe drinking water supply. Severe punishment is very much essential in cases of faulty practices that affect the consumer health. It is the prime duty and responsibility of UK government to adopt strict measures regulating the water supplying companies to provide safe drinking water and not to indulge in erroneous practices. The efforts are also needed to inspect or monitor the water quality in water source points, water storage points and water distribution network. The staff of the regulating agencies must be well trained in accurate testing of water quality so that the critical limits of harmful metals and micro organisms are strictly monitored. As it is strongly opined that economic activity will certainly affect the water quality, the status of legislature in UK is to be analyzed and analysis and conclusion may be drawn relating to the efficiency of existing laws and provisions in ensuring safe drinking water in UK. Analysis II Yes. The existing laws in United Kingdom ensures safe drinking water supply. However, the legal provisions alone cannot ensure the quality of drinking water. It requires the support of implementing agencies like Drinking Water Inspectorate and international laws and directives. Let us analyse one by one. International conventions and declarations also helped in development of some national laws in UK regarding environmental laws. Some efforts were made with intensified efforts at global level to maintain the balance between economic growth rate of companies and ecological preservation. Initiation of the Brundtland Report1 in 1987 is definitely a major break through in this direction. It clearly stressed the necessity of sustainable development which means that the development of present generation has to take place with out hampering the interests of the future generations. UK was quite active in its deliberations and 1: Enviropedia. The Brundtland report. http://www.enviropedia.org.uk/Sustainability/Brundtland_Report.php. Accessed on 24th April, 2009. took some promising steps in ensuring better environment and safe drinking water supply. It also emphasised on making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resources or harming the natural ecology. It declared some directives aiming at global equity, redistributing resources towards developing nations and encouraging their economic prosperity. It also highlighted three fundamental components to sustainable development as environmental protection, economic growth and social equity in all nations including UK. It has emphasized the need for boosting the economic growth rate of developing nations in employment, food, water, energy and sanitation. In other words, it gave importance to bridge the differences between the developed and developing nations while fighting against environmental pollution. In the process of attaining these said objectives, this report concentrated on some environmental legislation that ensure good ground water quality and less eutrophication. However, several European nations like Denmark and UK failed in implementing the European Commission environmental laws strictly over a period of time (Pagh, 1999). This calls for strict introspection on behalf of these nations to take any environmental law seriously so that issues like wild life preservation and supply of drinking water would be taken care. United Nations Conference on the Human Environment2 held at Stockholm in 1972 stressed the necessity for preservation and enhancement of the human environment and emphasized the need for supply of good quality drinking water. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) held at Rio De Janeiro in 1992 stressed the importance of climate change and safe drinking water. Rio declaration also aimed at ensuring sustainable development and environmental protection including drinking water quality. Both national and international laws provide relevant protection to citizens in ensuring environmental protection including safe drinking water (Boyle, 2005). For example, the quality of drinking water is very much assured by the European Court of Justice as it developed general principles relating to the rights of individuals in European 2: World water assessment programme. 1972-2006 : From Stolkhome to Mexico. http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/milestones/index.shtml. Accessed on 24th April, 2009. environmental law (Glinski and Rott, 2000). It was also reported that European Commission law gives prior importance to waste incineration recognises a right to health and provides for a number of specific rights relating to the operation of incineration plants. It is hence opined that in spite of a number of constraints, the European law, probably provides for better legal protection than most national orders in UK and other European nations. Similarly, the European Commission Environmental Liability Directive in spite of its drawbacks has several merits in protecting ecological perspectives (Gerd Winter et al., 2008). However, strong coherence between national and international environmental directives would play significant role in ensuring safe drinking water quality in UK. National laws also play significant role in ensuring water quality irrespective of time periods if necessary amendments are made depending upon the external changes. For example, the implementation of Part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, helped a lot in ensuring higher drinking water quality by providing the legal basis for water pollution control in UK (William Howarth, 1989). After experiencing privatization and globalization, several provisions of Part II of the 1974 Act were modified to reduce water pollution. The status of the Code of Good Agricultural Practices was reconsidered increase in extent of pollution from agricultural sources. Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) is an independent agency in UK set up in 1990 that regularly monitors the safety standards of drinking water supplied by private companies (Drinking Water Inspectorate, 2004). In other words, drinking water quality in UK is regulated by the government through the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Its staff is experienced in all aspects of water supply and safety norms and standards under environmental law. The main objective of DWI is to get assurance from the water companies in England and Wales for supplying safe drinking water which meets the standards mentioned under Water Quality (Water Supply) Regulations. DWI staff perform technical audits of each water company by checking results of drinking water tests by the water companies and by making visits to each water company to inspect all important aspects of their operating practices. The magnitude of the inspection is quite significant as it conducts millions of tests annually. At each point of water supply and distribution, inspections are made strictly and water treatment plants are also on regular check for ensuring the safe drinking water supply. European Commission environmental law and national laws encourage DWI to investigate consumers' complaints and incidents that affect drinking water quality. In cases of intentional failures on behalf of water companies, they can be prosecuted under present environmental laws. Hence DWI plays significant role in assuring safe drinking water supply in UK. The legal standards for drinking water quality in United Kingdom are set down in the Water Quality Regulations and they certainly aid in ensuring safe drinking water from companies to customers. In general, these standards come directly from European law and are based on World Health Organisation guidelines. The UK Regulations provide additional standards to safeguard the already high quality of water in England and Wales. From time to time, the environmental laws that safeguard the quality of drinking water have undergone modifications. For example, a European Community Directive was enforced in 1998 declaring new standards and some modifications to existing standards. Similarly, new regulations were brought in to force by the year 2000 to implement this new Directive and the water companies were forced to maintain the new standards by the end of year 2003. The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989 were modified under Water Supply (Water Quality) (amendments) Regulations 1999 in which higher emphasis was given to reduce the negative effect of Cryptosporidium pollution in drinking water. Similarly, The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations (2001) ensures supply of safe drinking water in UK by following specifications or critical limits of microbial organisms like Escherichia coli, Enterococci sp. and chemicals like boron, cadmium, copper, mercury, nickel, arsenic, selenium and pesticides like aldrin, dieldrin and heptachlor. The Scotland Act (1998) also helped in protecting the environment and devolution of environmental law in Scotland which facilitated safe drinking water supply from companies to customers (Little, 2000). In case of the National Assembly in Wales, though it was felt that limited legislative competence is witnessed relative to Scotland, there exist opportunities for distinctive approaches for development of secondary legislation. The Assembly of Wales passed some crucial environmental laws recently which certainly provide assurance to customers to be supplied with safe drinking water. Specifically, it made advance in the implementation of the EU nitrates directives, and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (Victoria Jenkins, 2005). Strategies for making environmental law more powerful are required for ensuring safe drinking water in the United Kingdom in future. In this context, strict monitoring of all organizations or industries for implementing environmental management system (EMS) is very much essential (Richard Welford, 1998). Similarly, strict adherence to legal provisions related to EMS is necessary (Brenda Short, 2003). The non compliance with the latest EMS standards may debar the company from registered companies under new environmental legislations of UK (Susan Wolf and Neil Stanley, 2003). With out proper EMS, no company can survive in long run. Rather, an organization will have to face legal hurdles if efficient EMS is not given importance (Stuart Bell and Donald Mc Gillivray, 2005). This will certainly make organizations involved in supply of drinking water more perfect in ensuring safety as far as quality of water is concerned. The Drinking Water Inspectorate should ensure that sampling procedures are satisfactory, samples are tested by trained staff using accurate methods and the right numbers of tests are carried out. DWI must also ensure that appropriate water treatment processes are used and treatment processes and the water distribution system are operated and maintained with safety in mind. At the same time, regular training exposure of all the staff members or functionaries involved in supply of drinking water to principles and practices of environment management and legal aspects would be critical in deciding the success of EMS and better quality of drinking water (R.Therivel et al., 2005). Unfortunately, it was found that some constraints are still felt in adjudication process of environmental law in UK giving excuses to companies or persons indulged in violation of environmental laws (De Prez, 2000). Hence, strict adherence to legal regulations is very much needed for ensuring safe drinking water. Sustainability map has to be built up indicating the areas of critical nature in which highest efforts must be concentrated for ensuring water quality. Initially, reports suggest that UK was little bit reluctant in legislating sustainability directives, but the reversal of approach was witnessed later (Andrea Ross, 2008). The positive approach of UK towards sustainable development in the recent years is highly encouraging as far as the safety of drinking water is concerned. Another objective is to ensure the quality water supply to next generation in the background of global warming (Legge, 2000). Conclusion The origin of globalization and liberalization couples with privatization led to higher extent of commercialization of water industry in United Kingdom. The major companies have been targeting economic benefits and competitiveness by aggressive marketing techniques. However, in this process, they have neglected the supply of safe drinking water as per the standards of environmental laws. Hence it may be concluded that economic activity will certainly affect the drinking water quality in UK. However, the existing legislation in UK ensures safe drinking water to a remarkable extent. European Commission environmental laws and directives played crucial role in ensuring safe drinking water by strong legislation and adjudication. National laws like Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations, 2001 have made significant impact. Similarly, Drinking Water Inspectorate by making regular inspections from water source to water supply zones ensure the safe drinking water in UK. International conventions like Rio De Janeiro, Stolkhome Convention and Brundtland report were instrumental in evolving strong legislature for better environment and safe drinking water. Overall, the impact of the public sector on the overall quality of the environment and more generally towards sustainable development is significant (Andrea Ross, 2005). For ensuring better quality drinking water supply in future, sustainable development should be prioritized by the UK government that require cooperation and coordination among many government and non-government actors. Severe punishment is needed for companies that defy the environmental law and drinking water standards both in tap water and bottled water. References Andrea Ross. (2005). The UK Approach to Delivering Sustainable Development in Government: A Case Study in Joined-Up Working. Journal of Environmental Law. 17(1):27-4.9 Andrea Ross. (2008). Why Legislate for Sustainable Development? An Examination of Sustainable Development Provisions in UK and Scottish Statutes. Journal of Environmental Law. 20(1):35-68. Boyle, A.E. (2005). Globalising Environmental Liability: The Interplay of National and International Law. Journal of Environmental Law. 17(1):3-26. Brenda Short. (2003). Environmental law (Nutshells). Sweet & Maxwell publication. P:176. ISBN-10: 0421797908. De Prez. (2000). Excuses, excuses: the ritual trivialisation of environmental prosecutions. Journal of Environmental Law. 12(1):65-78. Drinking Water Inspectorate. 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