Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture: the Government's Strategic Review

The strategic review of diffuse water pollution form agriculture is developing an action plan to reduce diffuse water pollution from agriculture in England - to ensure agriculture is playing its part in ensuring that water in England is clean and healthy as practicable. This will contribute to several of Defra's wider aims including encouraging sustainable farming, raising water quality and improving the conditions of wildlife.

Our current understanding of the problems caused by diffuse water pollution from agriculture, its geographical spread and the measures required to reduce it are set out in a stakeholder discussion paper produced on 30 April 2003.

This document is intended to form the basis for ongoing discussions with stakeholder organisations, which will help to improve our understanding of the issues and shape the action plan for reducing diffuse water pollution from agriculture. Alongside this we will continue to collate the available evidence on diffuse pollution and the effectiveness of measures to reduce it, as well as considering the longer term research needs.

We are aiming to consult on an action plan for reducing diffuse agricultural water pollution later this year, when we intend to set out more precisely:

• the framework and powers required to tackle diffuse agricultural pollution,
• some of the broad changes in land management required
• the processes that will be necessary to improve our understanding and to reduce pollution over coming years
• the action we will need to take, including policy measures.

The discussion document is the latest in a number of papers which have been published since the review began in early 2002. These can be accessed through the menu below.

You can contact the review team by e-mailing dwpa@defra.gsi.gov.uk or writing to:

David Davies
DWPA Review Team
Room G/07
Cromwell House
Dean Stanley Street
London SW1P 3JH

Project Papers:

• Stakeholder Discussion Paper (April 2003) setting out our current understanding of the problems caused by diffuse water pollution from agriculture, its geographical spread and the measures required to reduce it.

• Policy Instruments for the Control of Pollution of Water by A Diffuse Agricultural Sources (211kb) - (April 2003) - this research report produced for Defra by Oxera Consulting Ltd considers possible approaches for selecting policy instruments to reduce diffuse water pollution from agriculture.

• Initial Thinking (June 2002) setting out our initial thinking on the problem and solutions.
• Agriculture and Water - a Diffuse Pollution Review (June 2002) setting out the initial evidence of the impact of diffuse water pollution from agriculture.
• Measuring the Success of Policies to Control Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture (June 2002) considering how progress in reducing diffuse water pollution from agriculture could be measured and monitored.
• Types of environmental policy instruments (June 2002), describing the different instruments and the circumstances in which they are used.
• Existing policy instruments that impact on diffuse water pollution from agriculture (June 2002), which sets out a comprehensive list of existing instruments.
• Methods and measures to minimise the diffuse pollution of water from agriculture - a critical appraisal (June 2002), a paper from the consultancy and research organisation ADAS looking at policy instruments that have been used in other countries to tackle diffuse water pollution, to varying degrees of success.
• The Effectiveness of Changing Farm Practice on the Reduction of Diffuse Pollution of Nitrogen and Phosphorus (June 2002), which assesses the effect of practices that farmers could implement on the ground to reduce diffuse pollution of nitrogen and phosphorus.

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