A discussion on freshwater and estuarine studies of the effects of industry - Water resources management - England and Wales

I would like to congratulate the Royal Society on the choice of subject for this symposium, and hope that it will provide a sufficient development of a consensus to have influence on the solution to the problems now being widely canvassed. I read ‘industry’ in its widest sense, including local authorities and farmers among those who influence the quality of water in rivers and estuaries. It would be impossible to split the problem between the various component activators. In the overall management of the water pollution and water resources problem a large number of Government Departments are involved: The Department of Education and Science, with its responsibility for the Natural Environment Research Council; the Department of the Environment, with its own special Water and Sewerage Division, and its responsibility for the Water Resources Board, Water Pollution Research Laboratory, Hydraulics Research Station and the Water Research Association in partnership with the water supply industry; the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is interested in the land drainage and both fresh- and sea-water fisheries; and the Minister of Power through the Central Electricity Generating Board is the largest user of water, having a considerable impact on the flow régime of rivers and the temperature of the water. In due course, when the problems of the pollution of the sea are studied in more detail, the impact of river and estuary pollution on the adjacent seas will need quantitative study. In this case, there are grave dangers at present of over-stating the problems and the distinction between awareness and need for action needs to be borne carefully in mind.