ABSTRACT
Standards and regulations governing environmental pollution have been in operation for a long time. This chapter considers examples of standards which have little or no regard whatsoever for any uncertainty and variational factors, and offers no basis for assessing compliance either by the ‘prospective offender’ or by the ‘regulator’. There are many examples of standards that pay little or no regard whatsoever to the facets of uncertainty or variation which will be experienced in the practical situation where the pollutant will be found. The relationship between proposed statutory water quality objectives standards and the identified costs, in particular, rests on some detailed modelling. The effect of adding the substantial body of work on assessing compliance with this standard to the definition of the standard itself, is to produce one of the better examples that we know of in terms of recognition of uncertainty in setting environmental standards.
