“Poor water quality has
serious financial and environmental costs. 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.
“The plans the Agency now has
in place for a set of co-ordinated activities by itself and others
to raise awareness and change behaviour offer an opportunity to
achieve value for money in the future.”
Mr Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit
Office, 8 July 2010
The Environment Agency’s approach to tackling
diffuse water pollution, such as run-off from agricultural land and
roads, has not, to date, proved value for money, according to a
report published today by the National Audit Office. The annual
expenditure of £8 million has, to date, had little
impact. Looking forward, the development of River Basin
Management Plans now offers an opportunity to target work by the
Agency and others to improve water quality and tackle this complex
problem.
In 2009, only 26 per cent of rivers, lakes and
other water bodies in England met the required levels of water
quality, as set out in the European Water Framework Directive. The
Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the
Agency do not expect that all English water bodies will achieve
these levels by the 2027 deadline, as it may be disproportionately
costly or not technically feasible. Unless the European Commission
agrees a lower target accordingly, the United Kingdom could be
exposed to considerable financial penalties.
The Agency has not yet sufficiently identified
the extent to which failure to meet standards is due to diffuse
pollution and which sources contribute most to this failure. The
Agency considers the agricultural sector to be the major
contributor to diffuse pollution and this sector has been the focus
of its activities. But 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.
Despite the Agency’s efforts to persuade
farmers to recognise their responsibilities for diffuse pollution,
awareness remains low. Seventy-two per cent of farmers that the NAO
surveyed considered that agriculture contributed only a little or
not at all to diffuse pollution, although 68 per cent stated that
they considered the impact on the water environment a fair amount
or a great deal when making decisions on their farm.
The Agency’s advice and the voluntary
initiatives across government on changing farming practices have
had limited impact and need to be co-ordinated. One joint
agency scheme, the England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery
Initiative, has led to some farmers making changes that are likely
to reduce levels of pollution, but there was considerable variation
in take-up between areas. Sanctions have proved relatively
ineffective in changing farming practices and progress in improving
them has been slow. The Agency also has limited evidence of
the effectiveness of its inspection activity.
Publication details:
HC: 188, 2010-2011
ISBN: 9780102965346