Whole of Wales to be designated NVZ zone?

[llamedos]

Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs has today said she is minded to introduce a whole Wales approach to tackling nitrate pollution from agriculture and improve water quality.
Wednesday 13 December 2017

Following an extensive consultation on Nitrate Vulnerable Zones last year, the Cabinet Secretary said work would get underway with partners over the coming months to develop the right balance of comprehensive regulatory measures, voluntary measures and investment.

This will also include exploring further options to provide land managers with flexibility, where these would achieve the same or better outcomes than a regulatory approach.

Cabinet Secretary said:

“Pure, clean water is vital to human health and well-being, as well as to natural ecosystems and economic development. While nitrogen is a vital nutrient that helps plants and crops grow, high concentrations are harmful. The agricultural use of nitrates is a major source of water pollution.

“We had a considerable interest in our consultation on Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, reflecting the importance of water quality to Wales as a nation.

“Most respondents recognised the significant impact nitrate pollution is having on our waters, businesses and human and environmental well-being throughout Wales and agreed further action was needed.

“Poor nutrient management is still a major problem across Wales. Pollution of this kind is entirely preventable and is simply not acceptable in the 21st century.

“We should not at the end of 2017 see significant stretches of some of our most well known and popular rivers largely devoid of fish, proving just how much work remains to be done.

“Wales’ waters need much greater protection from agricultural pollution and that is why I am minded to introduce a whole Wales approach to tackling nitrate pollution from agriculture.

“Over the coming months, I intend to work in partnership with our stakeholders to get the right balance of comprehensive regulatory measures, voluntary measures and investment. I also intend to explore further options to provide land managers with flexibility, where these would achieve the same or better outcomes than a regulatory approach.

“We have some of the finest countryside and stretches of water in Europe which we have a duty to protect and enhance. This new regulatory approach will help deliver this and ensure current and future generations continue to benefit from our natural resources.”

Credit Gov. Wales http://gov.wales/newsroom/environme...approach-to-tackle-nitrate-pollution/?lang=en

under Intellectual Property Office © Crown copyright 2015

 

[7610 super q]

Ocking hell.

 

[GTB]

FFS!

 

[bobk]

Surprised it isn't already .

 

[Great In Grass]

FFS!

Free From Slurry?

 

[michael N123]

So what's the period you can't put muck on for like the starting and end month?

 

[Great In Grass]

So what's the period you can't put muck on for like the starting and end month?

https://www.nfuonline.com/cross-sec...zs-and-water-quality/nvz-closed-period-dates/

 

[Bald Rick]

Stupid lazy approach to a minor problem in the majority of Wales.
Any regs that are controlled by date is idiocy in a maritime climate
Good luck policing it especially after a heavy rain event

 

[Ffermer Bach]

so, I presume, we will have a date when you have to stop spreading slurry, so the week before, all of wales will be covered with slurry no matter what the ground conditions are, and once the date passes to spread the same will happen again, surely this is a recipe for pollution? The type of thing I would expect from government officials (when we think government persuaded everyone to drive diesel vehicles, then decided they were beyond the pale and now want everyone to drive petrol!), or as an example pay more in incentives to use renewable heat (in NI), than it costs to produce that heat!

 

[dave6470]

so, I presume, we will have a date when you have to stop spreading slurry, so the week before, all of wales will be covered with slurry no matter what the ground conditions are, and once the date passes to spread the same will happen again, surely this is a recipe for pollution? The type of thing I would expect from government officials (when we think government persuaded everyone to drive diesel vehicles, then decided they were beyond the pale and now want everyone to drive petrol!), or as an example pay more in incentives to use renewable heat (in NI), than it costs to produce that heat!

It been in force in NI for years and that exactly what happens .
Massive push to spread before ban no matter the weather

 

[Pasty]

Rivers full of slurry lead to big fines. Already happening down in Devon. It won't be tolerated for much longer.

Quite right too I think. What gives anyone the right to turn a healthy stream in a boiling cess pit. It's disgusting and gives farmers a bad name. Those responsible need stopping.

 

[gone up the hill]

Rivers full of slurry lead to big fines. Already happening down in Devon. It won't be tolerated for much longer.

Quite right too I think. What gives anyone the right to turn a healthy stream in a boiling cess pit. It's disgusting and gives farmers a bad name. Those responsible need stopping.

You don't half talk some rubbish.

Why do you have such a hatred of farmers for??

 

[Tarw Coch]

Rivers full of slurry lead to big fines. Already happening down in Devon. It won't be tolerated for much longer.

Quite right too I think. What gives anyone the right to turn a healthy stream in a boiling cess pit. It's disgusting and gives farmers a bad name. Those responsible need stopping.

I think you've got the wrong idea of what this is about, turning a watercourse into a "boiling cess pit" as you put it would already lead to trouble. This is about much more subtle leaching of nutrients which can't be seen with the naked eye.
Probably not relative in much of the uplands but I do know of one large dairy farm continually plastering slurry onto the same ground all winter no matter what the weather. That will have to stop.

 

[roscoe erf]

Good luck with that

 

[Walterp]

This is embarrassing...

The FUW has been lobbying Mrs Lesley Griffiths to alter the NVZ review; a review has to be activated every 4 years under the relevant EU directive - this will remain the case whether we remain or [try to] leave, because the DUP/Dublin Agreement specifically includes environmental legislation.

The FUW has been successful: Mrs Griffiths has switched from making a big chunk of South Pembrokeshire into a NVZ (which would affect all farmers here, including us) to, instead, applying a lesser but broader standard to the whole of Wales.

This is a marvellous lobbying success story - why is everyone complaining?

Thank you Mrs Griffiths, we are duly grateful for listening to our worries. Even the ones who possess jerky knees...

 

[capfits]

You don't half talk some rubbish.

Pot/kettle?
Anyway back on the topic.
Why is it so hard not to spread slurry between the dates or indeed to manage the slurry to maximise nutrient uptake rather than leach it away. Crap infrastructure? Rubbish unsuitable systems.

 

[GTB]

Rivers full of slurry lead to big fines. Already happening down in Devon. It won't be tolerated for much longer.

Quite right too I think. What gives anyone the right to turn a healthy stream in a boiling cess pit. It's disgusting and gives farmers a bad name. Those responsible need stopping.

WTF are you on about? The new NVZ rules will make pollution far more likely! As said pollution is already illegal but having to spread before the closed period or after (regardless of weather) with cause far more problems than the common sense method of spreading when weather and ground conditions allow. Whoever is behind this needs hanging from the nearset tree!

 

[Yale]

Calm down,calm down.

We’ve been in one for years.

It’s no big deal.......unless you’re an intensive dairy farmer.

 

[Henarar]

This is embarrassing...

The FUW has been lobbying Mrs Lesley Griffiths to alter the NVZ review; a review has to be activated every 4 years under the relevant EU directive - this will remain the case whether we remain or [try to] leave, because the DUP/Dublin Agreement specifically includes environmental legislation.

The FUW has been successful: Mrs Griffiths has switched from making a big chunk of South Pembrokeshire into a NVZ (which would affect all farmers here, including us) to, instead, applying a lesser but broader standard to the whole of Wales.

This is a marvellous lobbying success story - why is everyone complaining?

Thank you Mrs Griffiths, we are duly grateful for listening to our worries. Even the ones who possess jerky knees...

you would say that your in Pembrokeshire

 

[GTB]

Calm down,calm down.

We’ve been in one for years.

It’s no big deal.......unless you’re an intensive dairy farmer.

I'm not an intensive dairy farmer but my slurry pit won't hold more than two months worth of slurry.