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Archive:Agri-environmental indicator - nitrate pollution of water

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This background article contains a fact sheet of the agri-environmental indicator (AEI) land use change. Together with other fact sheets it provides an overview of the state of the agri-environmental indicators in the European Union (EU).

Indicator definition

Nitrate pollution is indicated by current values and trends in nitrate concentrations in groundwater and rivers (expressed in mg/L NO3 for groundwater and mg/L N for rivers).

Measurements

Main indicator:

Rivers and groundwater with nitrate concentration above 50 mg/L NO3 (= 11.3 mg/L N), with a guiding concentration of 25mg/L reflecting a threshold of concern.

Links with other indicators

The indicator "Land use change" is linked with following other indicators:

AEI 05 – Mineral Fertiliser Consumption
AEI 10.2 – Livestock Patterns
AEI 11.1 - Soil cover
AEI 11.3 – Manure Management
AEI 15 – Gross Nitrogen Balance
EEA Indicator CSI020
EEA Indicator CSI023

Main findings

Key messages

Nitrate in Groundwater

  • Nationally averaged nitrate concentrations are all well below the Nitrates Directive and Drinking Water Directive limit of 50 mg/L.
  • National aggregation, however, masks considerable variation at the scale of individual groundwater bodies (GWB), with approximately 8% of GWB across Europe, in 2009, exceeding the 50 mg/L limit.
  • The highest proportion of exceedance is observed in the Netherlands (22%), Belgium (22%), Cyprus (21%) and Spain (20%), but high levels are found also in Germany, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Denmark (11-15%). In addition, seven countries (Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic, France, Turkey and Switzerland) have a significant proportion (> 20%) of GWB with concentrations exceeding 25 mg/L, raising concern.
  • In general terms, groundwater nitrate concentrations have remained relatively stable since 1992, although there is marked variation at the scale of individual GWB; more than 25% of GWB in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Bulgaria exhibit statistically significant rising trends, although the latter three countries also exhibit a number of GWB with significant declining trends.

Nitrate in Rivers

  • River nitrate concentrations aggregated both nationally and at a river basin scale are below the 11.3 mg/L NO3-N limit (equivalent to 50 mg/L NO3) of the Nitrates and Drinking Water Directives.
  • However, current concentrations are often sufficient to promote eutrophication in many of Europe’s coastal waters.
  • Generally, concentrations are lowest in Scandinavia and highest (> 20% > 3.6 mg/L N; equivalent to > 16 mg/L NO3) in Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and the UK.
  • Significant decreases in river nitrate concentration are particularly evident in Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, Norway and Belgium over recent years. However, more than 30% of rivers in Spain and Switzerland exhibit a rising trend. Overall, a statistically significant decrease in average nitrate concentrations is evident at 32% of river monitoring stations across Europe, whilst in 14%, a statistically significant increase has occurred.


Main warnings

  • Whilst agriculture is, in general terms, the greatest contributor to nitrate in European freshwaters, other sources are also of importance, particularly discharges from urban wastewater treatment plants. It is not possible to apportion the contribution from each source from water quality data alone.
  • River nitrate concentrations held in the WISE-SoE waterbase are not flow weighted and reflect inter-annual variations in hydrology. Such variation does not, however, strongly impact the long-term trends observed.
  • The sampling frequency and number of stations monitored varies between countries.
  • Where a particular river crosses national boundaries, the observed nitrate water quality at any point will reflect all sources upstream, including those in other countries.
  • The data provided via WISE – SoE Rivers and Groundwater might be for the future combined with the data coming from the Nitrate Directive (which reflect more the impact of agriculture). DG Environment and EEA are together with Member States working on a streamlining of the different MS reporting on water quality including coordination of WISE-SOE and Nitrate Directive reporting.

Context

Introduction

Main statistical findings

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Data sources and availability

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Context

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Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

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Database

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Dedicated section

Methodology / Metadata

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Source data for tables, figures and maps (MS Excel)

Other information

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  • Regulation 1737/2005 (generating url [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32005R1737:EN:NOT Regulation 1737/2005]) of DD Month YYYY on ...
  • Directive 2003/86/EC (generating url [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0086:EN:NOT Directive 2003/86/EC]) of DD Month YYYY on ...
  • Commission Decision 2003/86/EC (generating url [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003D0086:EN:NOT Commission Decision 2003/86/EC]) of DD Month YYYY on ...

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External links

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Text of the footnote.

[[Category:<Subtheme category name(s)>|Statistical article]] [[Category:<Statistical article>|Statistical article]]

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