2 Legislative policies towards agricultural pollution
14.06 Given the highly polluting nature of agricultural waste, a high legislative priority must be given to setting rigorous standards for the handling and storage of silage and slurry, manufactured as a by-product of intensive modern farming methods.
Agricultural pollution is dealt with by pollution control legislation in the UK by using both the criminal law (penal sanctions) to deter incidents of point source pollution, supplemented by a range of legal measures (for example management agreements with farmers, and precautionary regulations dealing with slurry and silage storage etc.) intended to minimise the risk of pollution incidents occurring and to address and minimise ‘diffuse’ water pollution from agricultural sources (such as run off of fertilisers and pesticides into water courses adjoining farmland).(a)Point source pollution
14.07 Where the source of a pollution incident can be identified (for example a particular farm or installation on a farm) there will be a potential criminal liability under environmental legislation. The release of trade or sewage effluent, any waste matter or other noxious substances (‘poisonous, noxious or polluting matter’) into controlled waters is a criminal offence under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.12 The conditions in which liability will accrue are examined in detail below.
(b)Diffuse water pollution
14.08 A substantial degree of the extant pollution of groundwater and surface waters is caused not by point source incidents, but by the run off or gradual seepage into watercourses of nitrates, other nutrients and/or pesticides applied to the land. This is ‘diffuse pollution’, and is altogether more difficult to prevent and manage. In order to reduce diffuse water pollution, and to tighten environmental control of harmful agricultural practices, legislation has been introduced: (i) to enforce prescribed standards in handling and storing sewage and slurry (‘precautionary’ legislation); and (ii) to allow for the establishment of Nitrate Sensitive Areas, Nitrate Vulnerable Zones and Water Protection Zones within which the application of manure and nitrates to the land will be controlled. The designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones is central to the UK’s strategy for the implementation of the European Union’s Agricultural Nitrates Directive13. This is discussed more fully below.