A partnership between the NFU, Environment Agency and farmers is looking to tackle the problems of phosphate pollution. Excessive levels of phosphate can trigger the growth of algae and excessive weed growth leading to severe drops in dissolved oxygen and major impacts on fish and wildlife.

While phosphate levels in Britain’s streams and rivers are improving there is still much to do. In 1990 70 per cent of English rivers were assessed at ‘high’ phosphate levels, by 2008 this was still 50 per cent of river lengths. Much of this phosphate comes from human activity, with agriculture contributing 20 per cent of total phosphate.

On Tuesday (13^th November) the NFU and Environment Agency launched a joint report, the product of two years research into sources of phosphate pollution in freshwater, which they hope will form the beginning of efforts to tackle pollution. Together with farmers in two Anglian catchment areas, a five point plan and a monitoring regime will be implemented as recommended by the report.

NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond commented on Tuesday, “Our report marks a major step forward in understanding the role farming plays in phosphate pollution of rivers and streams.

“This industry has a big role to play in protecting our countryside, wildlife and above all water. Farmers depend on a healthy environment for their farming businesses. The report shows that working with the Environment Agency can be an effective way of agreeing the evidence base and targeting action to the best effect.”

Scepticism over industry-led approach

Nevertheless, questions remain over whether an industry-led approach is appropriate and effective in dealing with issues such as pollution. Recent failings would suggest that, at best, such structural problems may require more decisive government action and, at worst, allowing polluting industries to effectively self-regulate is hampering efforts to reduce environmental pollution.   

The launch of the NFU-EA project comes as the Metaldehyde Stewardship Group, which counts a number of major metaldehyde producers amongst its ranks, acknowledged that its “Get Pelletwise” campaign may not be working.

Water companies have expressed concern after metaldehyde pollution drastically increased in the UK’s waters this year, following increased slug activity. The highest ever recorded levels of the pesticide, which cannot be removed by conventional means, exceed European safety regulations by four times in some areas.

The stewardship group’s chair David Cameron admitted “99.9 percent” of growers would need to be on board with the campaign in order to achieve the required reductions in metaldehyde pollution, leading the Pesticide Action network’s Nick Mole to suggest that “If a voluntary approach is not working, then a legislative approach may be necessary. The situation [is] quite alarming considering the attention given to metaldehyde, not least because the cost of removing metaldehyde from water is passed on to the consumer, so we are paying for treatment resulting from overuse or improper use of pesticides.”  

Furthermore, government action to prevent further peat extraction in the North West was welcomed last week; the government’s decision to refuse permission for peat extraction at Chat Moss, near Manchester follows complaints from environmental organisations that industry-led initiatives are doing little to reduce reliance on polluting peat-based growing media.

The government has set the horticulture industry a deadline of 2030 to completely phase out the use of peat compost, though the industry has already missed a deadline of reducing use by 90 per cent by 2010.

Tweet