Measures announced to control agricultural pollution and improve water quality

July 3, 2002 -- U.K. Secretary of State Margaret Beckett has announced a range of steps to further the control of pollution from agriculture and protect England's rivers and coastal waters.

They are:
* The publication of a discussion paper on the Government's Strategic Review of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in England.
* The designation of further Nitrate Vulnerable Zones covering 47 per cent of the land area of England, to add to the 8 per cent already established, following the recent consultation. This takes the total designated areas to 55 per cent.
* The designation of 33 more water bodies as sensitive areas under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, which will require water companies to reduce phosphate or nitrate discharges from sewage treatment works (see news release 252/02, below).
* Plans to publish this summer a technical booklet which explains the problems caused by ammonia emissions, to be distributed to farming bodies and environmental groups.