Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 11.8
Recent legislation affecting water policy in England and Wales.
Source:
UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions 1998.
Box 11.2
Details of the Nitrate-Sensitive Area Scheme in England
The Nitrate Sensitive Area (NSA) Scheme allows farmers
in selected areas of England to opt to receive payments
for changing their farming practices on a voluntary basis
in order to stabilise high and/or rising nitrate levels in key
sources of public water supplies. There are thirty-two
NSAs, comprising a total of about 35,000 ha of eligible
agricultural land, and all are designated as Nitrate
Vulnerable Zones under the EC Nitrate Directive (91/676/
EEC). Three different types of voluntary measure are
offered. The Premium Arable Scheme involves
conversion of arable land to extensive grass, but there
are different options regarding fertilisation, grazing and
the use of woodland. The Premium Grass Scheme
entails extensification of existing intensively managed
grass, while the Basic Scheme develops low-nitrogen
arable cropping on the basis of restricted and standard
crop rotations. Farmers enter land into a scheme for five
years on a field-by-field basis, and payments range from
£590 to £80 per hectare, depending on location of the
NSA and which scheme and option are selected. In
1996, 359 farmers were participating in the NSA
scheme with the areas in the basic, premium grass, and
premium arable schemes being 15,529, 460 and 3622
ha, respectively (MAFF1998).
developing countries, but even in developed
nations, existing monitoring programmes, with an
emphasis on the analytical accuracy of chemical
determinations, fail to provide appropriate
information on water quality for interpreting
ecosystem and public health effects, for
establishing the presence of many critical toxic
chemicals and assessing levels of toxicity and for
underpinning either scientific understanding or
management decisions. Many developing nations
are unable to mount reliable programmes for
monitoring water quality. There is, therefore, a
