Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Revision in Poland—Assessment of Environmental Impact and Land Use Conflicts

Ewa Szalińska,Paulina Orlińska-Woźniak,Paweł Wilk

doi:10.3390/su10093297

Ewa Szalińska, Paulina Orlińska-Woźniak + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093297

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Abstract

Despite concerted efforts through the European territory, the problems of nitrogen pollution released from agricultural sources have not been resolved yet. Therefore, infringement cases are still open against a few Member States, including Poland, based on fulfilment problems of commitments regarding the Nitrate Directive. As a result of the litigation process, Poland has completely changed its approach to nitrate vulnerable zones. Instead of just selected areas, the measured actions will be implemented throughout the whole Polish territory. Additionally, further restrictions concerning the fertilizer use calendar will be introduced in areas indicated as extremely cold or hot, based on the average temperature distribution (poles of cold, and heat). Such a change will be of key importance to farmers, whose protests are already audible throughout the country, and can be expected to intensify. To assess the impact of the introduced modifications a modelling approach has been adopted. The use of the Macromodel DNS/SWAT allowed for the development of baseline and variant scenarios incorporating details of stipulated changes in the fertilizer use for a pilot catchment (Słupia River). The results clearly indicate that the new restriction will have a substantial effect on the aquatic environment by altering the amount of released total nitrogen.

Highlights

Nitrogen (N) is the most important nutrient controlling agricultural primary production
To prevent and reduce water pollution from nutrients arising from agricultural sources, the European Union (EU) introduced a range of control measures, with general rules set by the Nitrate Directive (ND) (91/676/EEC)
The current study made the first attempt to analyse an impact of the new action program aimed to reduce nitrogen pollution caused by agricultural sources in Poland

Summary

Introduction

Nitrogen (N) is the most important nutrient controlling agricultural primary production. This document obliges Member States to designate areas vulnerable to nitrate pollution and to concert the efforts to reduce this pollution through national action programmes These programmes require land managers to follow a range of measures, such as, among others, controlling the timing and quantities of fertilizers applied to the land, and ensuring proper storage capacity for livestock manure. The restructuring trend observed in Polish agriculture after 1990, enforced by adoption of EU laws, resulted in a general decrease of pressures on aquatic environment quality (e.g., improvement of sewage system management) [9,13]. As well as fertilizer use, shows strong regional differentiation in Poland, based on the variability of natural and economic factors [12], the measures to approach nutrient discharge problems should be different. The 15-year period of meteorological data used in this study allowed to draw conclusions on possible impacts of climate changes on the N yield from the catchments

NVZ Status Quo in Europe

NVZ Revision in Poland

Consequences of the NVZ Approach Change

Results

Conclusions