Water charity chief gives evidence to Lords
Dr Dylan Bright, Trust Director, Westcountry Rivers Trust, will be questioned by the Lords Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries EU Sub-Committee on Wednesday 1 February as part of their inquiry into EU freshwater policy.
The Westcountry Rivers Trust is an environmental charity working to preserve, protect, develop and improve the UK's freshwater system in the West Country. The Committee are particularly interested in the Trust's experiences of applying the ecosystem services concept to water management (by paying farmers for clean water), an approach which may become more widespread as implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) continues.
The Committee will quiz Dr Bright on issues such as:
- his view on the UK's current arrangements for water management and the impact of the WFD on water management and river water quality so far;
- whether the payment for ecosystem service approach could be expanded beyond farming and integrated with other benefits such as carbon capture; and
- what governments can do to help with these changes and what role the EU can play in making it happen.
The evidence session will take place on Wednesday 1 February at 11.00am in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords.
The evidence session is open to media and the public. Please allow time for security screening.
The evidence session will also be broadcast live on Parliament TV.