Water watchdog targets agricultural pollution

THE government’s environmental watchdog is set to clamp down on water pollution from agriculture.

Officials at the Environment Agency are due to carry out hundreds of investigations over the next couple of years to identify specific sources of diffuse pollution with a view to introducing stricter control measures.

The agency has made significant progress tackling pollution from sources such as sewage works and factories over the past two decades. But pollution from farming is proving harder to reduce.

“Diffuse pollution from agricultural and urban run-off is often difficult to identify and takes time to tackle,” said Paul Leinster, the agency’s chief executive. But the agency was determined improve 9500 miles of river over the next five years.

The agency is stepping up its act in the wake of a National Audit Office report which said the organisation had failed to deliver value for money when targeting diffuse water pollution from agriculture.

Anti-pollution strategies adopted by the agency were based on “limited information”, said the document As a result, the agency’s annual expenditure of £8m has had little impact, it warned.

“There is limited information on the impact of different farming activities on water pollution and so it is not possible to establish whether the agency is effectively targeting its resources.”

Some 72% of farmers considered that agriculture contributed only a little or not at all to diffuse pollution, although 68% said they considered the impact on water environment when making decisions on their farm.

The agency’s advice and the voluntary initiatives across government on changing farming practices have also had limited impact and need to be co-ordinated, said Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office.

“Many farmers remain unconvinced of their contribution to the problem, so the Environment Agency should intensify its efforts to raise awareness and change behaviour amongst farmers.”