The attitudes of recreational user representatives to pollution reduction and the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive

Under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), all water bodies must be of ‘good ecological status’ by 2015. One of the major beneficiaries of this will be those who use water for sport and recreation activities. It is certainly the case that some waters do contain – at some times – concentrations of pollutants sufficient to be a potential threat to public health but there is little robust evidence that water quality is a major constraint to many water-based activities. This paper addresses the current evidence deficit through a survey of recreational user representatives, exploring the cultural and political influences on decisions about when the quality of water is sufficient for their activity to take place. Using a reading of Bourdieu's ‘feel for the game’, the paper argues that there is a spectrum of involvement, contact and participation that conditions use and, thus, helps to establish an appropriate context for understanding the potential impacts on water-based recreation of the implementation of the WFD.