Tidal estuary
The Home Quality Mark, defines a tidal estuary as:
'…a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which seawater is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage.'
An estuary should be unconstrained tidal waters, i.e. there should be no barriers or constricted shorelines that would restrict the free flow of water into the open sea in any conditions. The impact on the total volume of run-off from the site (and other sites which may in future discharge into the estuary) should be insignificant in terms of the overall water levels in the estuary. Tidal rivers (i.e. where no or limited measurable seawater content is present during normal tidal movements) cannot be included as part of the estuary for the purposes of HQM.
Ref Home Quality Mark One, Technical Manual SD239, England, Scotland & Wales, published by BRE in 2018.
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