Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is implementing changes to waste sheep dip disposal permits in an effort to safeguard Welsh rivers.

While sheep dipping is important to safeguard livestock from potential parasites, NRW has measured increased levels of diazinon in Wales' water environment, a chemical that is highly toxic to most aquatic organisms.

NRW will stop issuing new permits that allow farmers to dispose of waste sheep dip to land. Instead, farms will need to have the waste dip removed by a registered waste carrier and disposed of in a suitable waste facility.

Farms with active permits can continue to dispose to land for the time being but eventually all waste dip will need to be disposed of this way, bringing consistency with how all other liquid wastes are disposed of.

Where a farmer no longer needs to dispose of waste sheep dip to land, they will be able to surrender their permit for free.

Nadia De Longhi, Head of Regulation and Permitting for NRW, said:

"We're constantly working to balance the needs of working farms with our duties to safeguard the environment and this often means gradual change to the way things work.

"Disposing of sheep dip to land has been done for more than 30 years but we've noticed a negative effect accumulating in our rivers that is causing us to fail to meet the standards required to protect the water environment.

"This is why we've decided to phase out the practice as there are now better
alternatives available.

 "Those already permitted to dispose of sheep dip to land can continue to do so for now, but we'll be working with farmers to eventually phase the practice out and move to a process that isn't as harsh on our environment.

"To support that change we have removed the charge, which currently stands at £363, to surrender your permit if you no longer need it."

Farmers that need their sheep to be dipped but currently do not have a permit, can:

• Apply to use the Welsh Government funded Gwaredu Scab programme if they suspect they have a scab infestation (www.ahww.cymru).

• Dip the sheep themselves (if they hold the necessary certificates) and arrange for a registered waste carrier to collect the waste dip for off-site disposal.

• Employ a mobile sheep dip contractor to dip their sheep for them and take the waste away for disposal. To facilitate this, farmers can securely store waste dip on their own farm for up to 12 months prior to collection and mobile dip contractors can store 20,000 litres for up to three months on their premises prior to collection.

• NRW is encouraging farmers to surrender permits they no longer need. This can
  now be done for free on the NRW website Natural Resources Wales / Surrender your permit for disposing of waste sheep dip