Can the Big Society reduce diffuse urban pollution?

摘要

DIFFUSE URBAN POLLUTION of water is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving compliance with the Water Framework Directive. As with many other environmental issues, complexity, subtlety and lack of ownership underlie the difficulties in resolving the ' problems. Technical complexity is due to the multiplicity of pollutants, sources and pathways, while there is also complexity of governance due to the many organisations and regulatory instruments. The subtlety is because many of the effects are chronic rather than acute and so the environmental effects are often not obvious. And the lack of ownership reflects both the causers of pollution (potentially all people and all urban infrastructure) and the multiplicity of agencies with responsibilities for some parts of the network of sources, pathways and receptors.