Following the discovery of agricultural chemicals at high concentrations in a Scottish water catchment area, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has begun a project to tackle diffuse pollution in key areas of Scotland.

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Water in intensively farmed catchments, such as the Ugie can be seriously affected by diffuse pollution, often driven by rainfall leading to runoff.  This can result in water being contaminated with solids and other detritus, nutrients, bacteria, and chemicals entering rivers and aquifers and can have an impact on ecology.

SEPA officials have said there is a need to engage with farmers to ensure compliance with regulations and halt diffuse pollution. According to SEPA, herbicides and pesticides are the principal threat to water and environment quality from arable farms, whilst animals poaching land within five meters of a water course is the most significant threat from mixed and livestock operations.

The agency said that over 5,000 breaches of the Diffuse Pollution General Binding Rules have been recorded in 14 Scottish catchments. These catchments have been prioritised for action to boost water quality by tackling diffuse pollution such as agricultural runoff and seepage from developed land.

The catchments contain some of Scotland’s most important waters in terms of conservation, drinking water, bathing and fishing. River Ugie is one of these priority catchments, others include Buchan Coastal, Galloway Coastal, North Ayrshire Coast, River Ayr, River Dee, River Deveron, River Doon, River Garnock, River Irvine, River South Esk, River Tay and Stewartry Coastal.

Farm visits to discuss water protection

In preparing for the project, SEPA officials spoke to land managers and farmers about any water issues that concerned them, and took note of any examples of bad practice seen. Last year, the agency held a number of evening meetings, workshops and site visits in association with NFU Scotland and the SAC to help land managers understand the steps needed to protect water quality and develop cost effective solutions to reduce risks.

This year, the emphasis of the project has moved on to farm visits, enabling SEPA officers to directly engage with farmers and land managers. Officers have now visited 420 holdings in the Ugie catchment alone, which contains 270 active farms and 150 holdings which range in size from one to 20 acres. SEPA said its officers have so far recorded 751 non compliances with the General Binding Rules from 350 units; most of the infractions have been reported on livestock units, though a significant number have been from arable operations.

During visits and inspections, SEPA officers have discussed measures to mitigate diffuse pollution, including introducing buffer strips on fields and preventing livestock poaching to reduce the risk of pollution occurring from farm premises.

Eddie Nicol, SEPA’s Catchment officer for the River Ugie, commented on the project’s successes in the region, “This approach is being mirrored across Scotland and we’ve had a very positive response from farmers and land managers during walks, events and farm visits. A lot of the problems we’re seeing can be easily, and cheaply, resolved. Buffer strips are one example of a straight forward way to limit run off from fields, simple to do and very effective.”

He continued, “It’s important that this work is not about SEPA dictating what needs to be done to sort out the problem. By working together with the people that live and work in the area we will be able to develop plans that work on the issues facing each catchment, and improve the situation for everyone.”

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