The Scottish Parliament’s infrastructure and capital investment committee is inviting comments from all links in the food chain about whether the Water Services Bill is achieving the Scottish government’s goals.
Committee convenor Maureen Watt intends that the bill should set a framework for making the most of Scotland’s water resource while developing water management as an important part of achieving the government’s wider Hydro-Nation agenda. She said: “With this bill, we will be looking to see whether the proposals it contains will deliver the good intentions of Hydro Nation. It is in everyone’s interests that our valuable resources are both protected and utilised appropriately.
“The core role of our committee is to scrutinise the policies put forward by the Scottish government that have an impact on Scotland’s resources, whether natural or man-made. We are asking people to write to us over the summer so that we can read and reflect on the evidence before determining who we wish to come in and talk to us in autumn.”
The committee has issued a detailed call for evidence to help it assess the views of individuals and organisations on the content of the bill, specifically on development of water resources, control of water abstraction, non-domestic services and water shortages orders.
The committee expects to consider written submissions and to take oral evidence from September to early November, before reporting on the bill’s general principles towards the end of November 2012.
