Environmental Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Environmental Law - Essay Example Concerning the marine environment, in recent years, several projects and political actions at national and international level have been advanced in order to reduce the effects of water pollution. Preserving and improving the marine environment requires the achievement of a good ecological status of waters, without which the aquatic ecosystem and the human activities of marine coastal zones could be strongly at risk. This is the proposal of EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) which represents a major advance in European policy with the concepts of classes of water quality and water management. Irrespective of this it is found that European water is still polluted. This paper aims at assessing the effectiveness of EC law on water quality and pollution. The UK’s membership of the EC has had important consequences for the UK with regard to improvements in water quality and the regulation of water pollution. The European Commission has been very active in drawing up a series of water-related directives which, when passed by the European Parliament, must then be transposed into national law. ... actual or intended use of the relevant waters (quality objective of receiving waters) The EC has had, and continues to have, a major impact on water quality and waterpollution control in the UK. Over the last three decades, EC has passed a range ofdirectives designed to prevent discharges of pollutants into the aquatic environment and also to establish quality standards for waters which are used for drinking, bathingand fishing. Often, the EC adopts a 'framework directive' to set up a specific controlregime and then, over time, supplements this with 'daughter directives' which setlimits for the presence of chemical substances in different types of waters (that is,drinking, bathing and fishing). Member States are given a set period of time totranspose the relevant EC directive into national law and achieve actual compliancewith the specific provisions of the directive. EC legislation on water pollution The legislation on water pollution is probably the most highly developed branch ofEC environmental law and most certainly has the longest history. Approximately 30directives concern water. The directives adopt two main approaches to pollutioncontrol: (1) the imposition of limits or restrictions upon the emission or discharge ofparticular pollutants into the water media; and (2) the establishment of quality standards for particular designated types of water.The outcome of this dual approach has been a somewhat peacemeal body of law. The directives on water pollution share several common features: The use of dual lists described as 'I' and 'G'3 which require member states to setwater standards which do not fall below 'I' limit and which should aim to achieve'G' standards.A