Agriculture and Water Protection Water protection requirements and problems deriving from agriculture

Transcription

1 Agriculture and Water Protection Water protection requirements and problems deriving from agriculture Spring Session on Water Quality and Management Ljubljana, Slovenia 25 26, April 2017 Prof. Giuseppe Sgorbati* Water/ Land Expert Team Leader * Tech. and Scientific Director ARPA Lombardia - Italy

2 IMPEL: an international non-profit association of 50 environmental authorities in 35 countries* IMPEL born in 1992 as an informal Network of European regulators, to share problems and solutions challenges from increasing weight of EU environmental laws, aiming mainly at industrial installation. A network of practicioneers * Including all EU Member States, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.

3 Mission To contribute to protecting the environment by promoting the effective implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law.

4 IMPEL s organization aiming at environmental issues through Expert Teams Waste and TFS Crosscutting Water & Land Industry Thematic Areas Nature protection

5 IMPEL: what the network produces In general our Members develop Projects aimed at: Exchange of experience, sharing of good practicies, carrying out common actions, also at international / transboundary level Capacity building Formulation of Guidelines, setup of Tools, finding commons pathways Informing Policy, Networking IMPEL Review Initiative: peer reviews on implementation of EU legislation A Non Written Value: a network of colleagues to rely on also for day by day problems or initiatives, through rapid informal contacts.

6 How we steer our work We study the situation under a strategic light: an analysis of EU legislation implementation challenges felt by our members The Implementation Challenge Study ( makeover in progress) IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme Projects proposal from our members, prioritization by Expert Team, approval by the General Assembly Discussion, excange of information, exchange of point of view over priorities and main gaps with the EU Commission, DG Environment

7 IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study (2015): not only a search of the areas of weakness in implementation but also of the causes Outcomes about Water/ Land Regulation

8 IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme embedding result of 2015 s IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study Main outcomes for Water and Land

9 IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme embedding result of 2015 s IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study Areas of work felt by IMPEL members as important in the prevention of pollution at source: agriculture and, in particular, the prevention of diffuse source pollution, for example, from nitrates and pesticides illegal and over-abstraction of waters, overallocation of water rights urban wastewaters, failing sewage works re-use of treated waste waters achievement of required water quality standards for bathing waters and drinking waters hydro-morphological pressures from the building of structures, for example, for energy production, flood risk management and other causes of modification of water bodies that affect the achievement of good ecological status. contaminated sites industrial installations and activities

10 IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme embedding result of 2015 s IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study Areas of work felt by IMPEL members as important in the prevention of pollution at source: agriculture and, in particular, the prevention of diffuse source pollution, for example, from AGRI nitrates and pesticides illegal and over-abstraction of waters, AGRI + overallocation of water rights OTHERS urban wastewaters, failing sewage works CONNENCTIONS re-use of treated waste waters WITH AGRI achievement of required water quality standards for bathing waters and drinking waters hydro-morphological pressures from the building of structures, for example, for energy production, OTHERS flood risk management and other causes of modification of water bodies that affect the achievement of good ecological status. contaminated sites industrial installations and activities

11 IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme embedding result of 2015 s IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study Areas of work felt by IMPEL members as important in the prevention of pollution at source: agriculture and, in particular, the prevention of diffuse source pollution, for example, from nitrates and pesticides illegal and over-abstraction of waters, overallocation of water rights urban wastewaters, failing sewage works re-use of treated waste waters AGRI AGRI + OTHERS CONNENCTIONS WITH AGRI Priority felt by IMPEL s members include the improvement of information gathering through monitoring and reporting, in several key areas, with regard to Agriculture or other activities overlapping their effect on Agriculture effects.

12 IMPEL s Strategic Work Programme embedding result of 2015 s IMPEL Implementation Challenge Study Areas of work felt by IMPEL members as important in the prevention of pollution at source: agriculture and, in particular, the prevention of diffuse source pollution, for example, from nitrates and pesticides illegal and over-abstraction of waters, overallocation of water rights urban wastewaters, failing sewage works re-use of treated waste waters AGRI AGRI + OTHERS CONNENCTIONS WITH AGRI Furthermore, there is a wide fragmentation of Competent Authories in agricolture field, and a high differentiation Country by Country, and this do not help in defining a comprehensive national planning and enforcement strategy. Environment Agri CAP payments Veterinary Food Land Management -.

13 AGRICOLTURE AND NITRATE POLLUTION Agriculture and, in general farming,with regard to livestock manure management, are in close relationship with nitrate pollution Identification of water polluted, or at risk of pollution, Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) designation and revision National monitoring and reporting REPORTING, PLANNING, POLICY Correct use of mineral fertilizers Respect of rules in NVZ COMPLIANCE Manure management ASSURANCE, ENFORCEMENT Respect of the limits for manure spreading Pproper designation manure spreading areas (IED Farms: intensive rearing of pigs, poultry and cattle) Respect of manure spreading periods Proper dimensioning of manure storage structures: if not balanced nutrient management can't take place

14 AGRICOLTURE AND NITRATE POLLUTION e.g.: NVZ Designation (Lombardy, ITA) soil prot. cap. mineral. fert. population rainfall. manure spreading And more..

15 Tackling nitrate pollution: the overlapping effects of urban wastewaters management Poor household and urban waste waters management, i.e: household not connected to treatment plants, direct dispersion of household wastewaters in the ground or in rivers, failing waste water treatment plants and sewerage systems non appropriate spreading of sludges from water treatment plants are further reasons for nitrate pollution, overlapping their effects with that ones from agriculture The topic must be investigated locally also to give correct dimension to the phenomena and to tackle every orinin of nitrate pollution: both agriculture and wastewaters Household: too slow planning and financing infrastructure investment (collection & treatment) Better use of EU Funds (i.e. Regional & Cohesion)

16 Pesticide Pollution: a complex situation Several countries in Europe report that groundwater has concentrations of pesticides that exceed the quality standards. Across this European dataset, about 7 % of the groundwater stations reported excessive levels for one or more pesticides. Cyclodiene-group and Endosulfan, the EQS was exceeded at less than 5 % of the river monitoring stations. The EQS for the Cyclodiene-group was exceeded in 43 % of the measured rivers. The Endosulfan EQS was exceeded in 35 % of the river monitoring stations. Agriculture is considered as the greatest contributor to pesticides in European surface and groundwater. Monitoring of pesticides is a challenging task because of the high number of registered pesticides, cost of analyses, and the need for sampling to be performed during periods of application and use, and under various weather conditions.. Source:

17 Pesticide Pollution: a complex situation Relevant EU legislation: 2000/60/EC Water Framework Directive 2006/118/EC Groundwater Directive 2008/105/EC EQS Directive 2009/128/EC Directive on Sustainable use of Pesticides Main Actions for sustainable use of pesticides National Action Plans- EU countries adopt them setting objectives and timetables to reduce risks and impacts of pesticide use; Training- Professional pesticide users, distributors and advisors get proper training - EU countries establish competent authorities and certification systems; Information and awareness raising - Member States shall take measures to inform the general public and put in place systems to gather information on acute poisoning incidents and chronic poisoning developments; Aerial spraying - Aerial spraying is prohibited. EU countries may allow it under strict conditions after warning people; Minimising or banning - EU countries minimise or ban the use of pesticides in critical areas for environmental and health reasons; Inspection of equipment in use All pesticides application equipment will have to be inspected at least once by 2016 to grant a proper efficient use of any plant protection product Souce:

18 Agricolture and abstraction of water: over-abstraction, over-allocation of water resources, illegal abstraction In terms of quantity, on average, 44 % of total water abstraction in Europe is used for agriculture. Even more than 65 % in Southern Europe Starting from 30 % in Northern Europe Is the abstraction of water used in agriculture optimized and/or completely legal? Two main cases: illegal abstraction, exceeding or not sustainability Legal abstraction, over-abstraction of water, overallocation of water resources,

19 Agricolture and abstraction of water: over-abstraction, over-allocation of water resources, illegal abstraction SUSTAINABILITY OF USE OF GROUNDWATER: withdrawal must be compatible with recharge rate Monitoring of soil subsidence by Satellite SAR interferometry: the experience of ARPA Emilia Romagna - ITA

20 Agricolture and abstraction of water: over-abstraction, over-allocation of water resources, illegal abstraction Project WODA Final Meeting, 10 th - 11 th December 2015, ARPA Lombardia, Milan, Italy 20

21 Agricolture and abstraction of water: over-abstraction, over-allocation of water resources, illegal abstraction (overallocation) 21

22 Agricolture and abstraction of water: over-abstraction, over-allocation of water resources, illegal abstraction Good management of water resources: Fundamental: - Planning capability based on complete knowledge of water resource availabilty through well developed inventories and water balances - The willingness of on review and revise permits when they they have a non sustainable impact - The capability of detection of illegal abstraction, the capability of targeting inspections 22

23 Focus on: urban wastewaters and agriculture At present, about 1 billion cubic metres of treated urban wastewater is reused annually, which accounts for approximately 2.4% of the treated urban wastewater effluents and less than 0.5% of annual EU freshwater withdrawals. But the EU potential is much higher, estimated in the order of 6 billion cubic metres six times the current volume Reuse of treated wastewater can be considered a reliable water supply, quite independent from seasonal drought and weather variability and able to cover peaks of water demand. This can be very beneficial to farming activities that can rely on reliable continuity of water supply during the irrigation period, consequently reducing the risk of crop failure and income losses. Appropriate consideration for nutrients in treated wastewater could also reduce the use of additional fertilisers resulting in savings for the environment, farmers and wastewater treatment. Source:

24 How IMPEL addresses problems: our technical work in water protection

25 How IMPEL addresses problems: our technical work in water protection Linking the WFD and IPPC/IED Directives - development of checklists for water protection (study, tool), I, II, III Achieving better compliance in the agricultural sector: facilitating partnership between envi & agri inspectorates (study, field visits, guidelines) Sharing good practice in tackling diffuse pollution and nitrate loss from farms and farmsteads (study, field visits, guidelines), I, II Improving permitting and inspection of IPPC/ IED pig farming installations by developing practical guidance (study, guidelines)

26 How IMPEL addresses problems: our technical work in water protection WODA: Over-abstraction and illegal abstraction: Detection and Assessment using Earth Observation (EO) methods RC: Risk analysis tool and Prioritisation of Environmental Inspections (focus on Agri) IED BL: implementation of the IED Baseline Report SWETE: Safeguarding Water Environment Throughout Europe DECO Project decontamination and monitoring procedures of groundwater and soils in polluted exindustrial sites (survey, best practices)

27 How IMPEL addresses problems: our technical work in water protection Diffuse Pollution: Best-practice guidance for addressing diffuse source pollution from agriculture ReduPiWa: implementation of the Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides Water saving& reuse: sharing good practices in industrial water treatment and reuse implementing multiple EU requirements River development planning: promoting good status of surface waters

28 IMPEL and Agricolture: higlights Diffuse pollution projects: history 2012 The EU Commission had highlighted nitrate pollution from agriculture as a crucial area for IMPEL to work on 2013 IMPEL project: Sharing good practice in tackling diffuse pollution and nitrate loss from farms and farmsteads 2014 IMPEL project: Good practice in tackling nitrate pollution from farms and farmsteads 2016 IMPEL project: Does one measure fit all? 2017 Manure storage capacity project

29 IMPEL and Agricolture: some highlights on the work done untill now Diffuse pollution projects - Outcomes Fundamental ideas of which topics to work on in future projects First version of Good practice document. Collates examples of good practice for tackling diffuse nitrate pollution from farms and farmsteads Presents pragmatic methods which can contribute to limit nitrate leaching and thereby contribute to a higher level of compliance with the aims of the Nitrates Directive and Water Framework Directive Can be expanded and refreshed via future projects A network of people working with diffuse pollution as inspectors or policy makers

30 IMPEL and Agricolture: some highlights on the work done untill now ReduPiWa Project: Reducing pesticide residues in ground- and surface waters A comparison of measures and instruments used in Belgium Flandern, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland and Sweden

31 IMPEL and Agricolture: some highlights on the work done untill now WODA project: tackling illegal and over abstraction of water using Earth Observation techniques remote sensing through satellite systems Location of WODA partners Water Exploitation Index (WEI) per MS (red arrows indicate WODA partners) 31

32 IMPEL and Agricolture: some highlights on the work done untill now How IMPEL helps Regulator in tackling relevant issues in water environment protection: the deployment of advanced technologies: Expanding the use of Copernicus Program 32

33 IMPEL and Agricolture: some highlights on the work done untill now Malta pilot site Project WODA Final Meeting, 10 th - 11 th December 2015, ARPA Lombardia, Milan, Italy 33

34 Agriculture and Water Protection Water protection requirements and problems deriving from agriculture Thanks for your attention, But, much more, for giving us a fantastic chance for networking, for sharing common objectives, for future cooperation in view of better environmental protection g.sgorbati@arpalombardia.it