Environment Agency launches workshop to improve water quality

The Environment Agency has announced that it will be running a workshop for farmers in Brigg, Lincolnshire, with the aim of safeguarding local water quality.

Farmers, who can attend the event on December 8th free of charge, will be advised about how to reduce the impact of nitrates from farming on the water environment as well as being informed about how these can affect water quality.

It will also explain how they can save money through effectively managing their nitrate discharges.

Brigg has been identified as a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ), which means that farmland drains into water that is polluted by nitrates. Rural workers from the surrounding area can use the workshop to discover if their land has been designated an NVZ.

Rebecca Baxter, environment officer at the Environment Agency, explained: "More than 60 per cent of nitrates in our water comes from the farming industry and has to be removed before the water can be supplied to consumers."

Earlier this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, which is supported by a number of industry bodies.

Defra intends to use the scheme to offer farmers advice on how best to retain and increase the environmental benefits provided by their agricultural land.

Posted by Joseph Hutton