AGRICULTURE AND THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE ANALYSIS

Russell Todd

What have we been doing?

•Concentrated on phosphorus•Additional work on sediment•Further work on FIOs

Outputs so Far

• Three main Outputs

•P Apportionment Study – lower Ag average compared to previously

• Draft User Manual - Mitigation Measures to deal with diffuse pollution from agriculture

• Business as Usual Study (BaU 2015) - changes in crop areas & livestock numbers

What does this mean?

• P target

• For England only we are looking for an average 48% reduction in P loadings

• Some catchments will require less or no improvement and some will require more

Modelled probability of annual average OP concentrations in fresh river waters being less than ecological good status thresholds as a consequence of diffuse source phosphorus inputs only.

Modelled probability of achieving good water quality status and the outstanding required percent reduction in phosphorus inputs, for diffuse source losses to river waters, under the combined impact of baseline method implementation and structural change in the agricultural industry under the Business as Usual forecast.

Supportive Approach

• Advice

• ECSFDI expands across the whole of England

• Grants

•Scheme

• Environmental Stewardship (Pillar II)

Trading schemes

• Cost savings:• Cost differentials unlikely to be enough to support

significant reductions in pollution. • Cost savings unlikely to justify admin/monitoring costsEnvironmental effectiveness:• Moreover, environmental uncertainty of moving

inputs/practices around – potential need to audit trades increased costs.

• Actual location of the polluter in the catchment!

Developing a regulatory option for CSF

• Main focus on what existing Regulations could do to tackle DWPA in England

• 15 existing national and EU driven regulatory provisions that may be able to tackle the problem are being looked at.

The Provisions scrutinised included…

• Water Resources Act • Wildlife and Countryside Act (as amended)• Environmental Liability Directive• Town and Country Planning Act • Environmental Protection Act• Waste Management Regulations

Pinpointing a regulatory option

• Spatial Coverage (linked to specific designations e.g. SSSIs and/or areas of land e.g. ‘amenity’ land or where sewage sludge is spread)

• Scope (spatial use fine but can only tackle specific sources of a problem or specific pollutants)

• Tackle effect rather than cause (geared to remediation after event)

Some Conclusions…

• Uncertainty !!!