Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution (Scotland) Regulations 1996: implementation report 2020 to 2023

4. The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones

4.1 NVZ Action Programme

The Regulations require that Scottish Ministers establish and implement an Action Programme for NVZs and carry out reviews on a four yearly basis, revising the Action Programmes if necessary. The reviews consider scientific research and new evidence affecting Action Programme measures - taking account of the variation in agricultural, soil and climatic conditions.

The aim of the Regulations is to protect drinking water and the wider water environment from nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. Farming results in the production of substantial quantities of manures and slurries. These have benefit if utilised as fertilisers but can contain large amounts of nitrogen which have the potential to cause pollution. Therefore, a key objective is to increase the efficiency of manure use, specifically maximising the uptake of nitrate in manure and slurry by grass or other crops, rather than being allowed to run off or leach to the water environment. Optimising nitrogen available from manures and slurries should be a key objective of the farming sector as they can help to reduce costs.

4.2 Previous reviews and introduction of measures

The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008 introduced a revised Action Programme with effect from 1 January 2009. The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2013 SSI 2013/123 came into force on 15/05/2013 and introduced further controls on:

• storage of livestock manure and silage effluent (Regulations 6)
• field heaps (regulation 10)
• maximum application of nitrogen fertiliser (regulation 12)
• annual field limit of nitrogen in organic manure (regulation 15)
• closed periods for organic manure with high available nitrogen content (regulation 20)

Since then, the Scottish Government has introduced a range of measures across Scotland to reduce nitrate pollution from agricultural activities, with further amendments introduced through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021, which are currently being phased in up to 2027. This has continued the innovative introduction of statutory General Binding Rules (GBRs) to reduce diffuse pollution through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR).

The current Action Programme measures include:

• Fertiliser and Manure Management Plan and recording requirements
• Storage of slurry, manure and silage effluent requirements
• Temporary storage of solid manure
• Maximum application of nitrogen fertiliser limit
• Minimum nitrogen available to crop from livestock manure
• Annual farm limit of nitrogen in livestock manure
• Annual field limit of nitrogen in organic manure
• Application of nitrogen fertilisers, chemical fertiliser and organic fertiliser requirements
• Closed periods for application of chemical fertilisers and organic manure with high available nitrogen content along with quantitative restrictions
• Closed periods for spreading on bare ground and stubble
• Minimum period between applications of livestock manure
• Restriction on method of application of slurry

Voluntary measures to reduce nitrate pollution from agriculture that were historically best farming practice have become mandatory across Scotland through the GBRs under the Controlled Activities Regulations both outwith NVZs and within NVZs where mandatory measures did not already exist in the Action Programme.

Developed from already widely accepted good practice guidance, such as the Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Agricultural Activity Code (PEPFAA), the Diffuse Pollution GBRs in CAR present a statutory baseline which provide a general level of environmental protection and contribute significantly to water quality improvements. These 2021 Amendment Regulations also updated and consolidated into CAR the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSAFO), which are now revoked.

In addition to the consolidation of SSAFO, the 2021 Amendment Regulations also included provisions with , with the following key aims:

• to update existing controls for the storage of slurry and silage
• to introduce controls over the storage of materials associated with energy production from anaerobic digestion; and
• to introduce new requirements regarding more targeted and efficient application of slurry and liquid digestate.

A review of the Action Programme was due to be delivered in 2021. However, due to the impacts of COVID and SEPA's cyber-attack at the end of 2020, the earliest feasible time to deliver a review is in 2025. We will, therefore, review the Action Programme in 2025 to ensure measures remain appropriate and evidence based. In accordance with regulation 6A of the Regulations we will ensure that the public is given early and effective opportunities to participate in the review of the action programme.