Regulations on Nitrate Use and Management

Abstract

The European Commission has made a significant effort to decrease the impact of nitrate pollution through the establishment of various pieces of legislation. In particular the Nitrates Directive that aims to regulate and control nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. The Directive has close links with other EU policies, such as the Water Framework Directive, established to achieve good ecological and chemical status in all European waters; the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive that controls N emissions as point sources; the common agricultural policy CAP that backs up the Nitrates Directive through direct support and rural development measures; and the Soil Thematic Strategy and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive that have a fundamental role in protecting the soil and marine environment, respectively. More recently the European Commission developed a new growth strategy, the Green Deal, for reorienting policies and laws for the years to come, addressing environmental issues (e.g. climate change, pollution, biodiversity losses) and balancing the social market economy with the health of the planet. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of these main European policies, focusing on their efficiency in controlling the amount of nitrate present in the environment.