Area types of nitrate manure decree, 01/01/2021, rectification 19/03/2021

Since 1 January 2019, a new Fertiliser Decree has been in force in Flanders, the ‘Decree amending the Decree of 5 April 1995 laying down general provisions on environmental policy and the Decree of 22 December 2006 as regards the implementation of the sixth manure action programme’. Europe encouraged Flanders to take a more thorough approach to the protection of surface and groundwater. The Mest Decree, also known as MAP 6 (Mest Action Plan 6), aims to reduce water pollution by nitrates and phosphates from agricultural sources and to prevent further pollution. The Mestbank department of the Flemish Landmaatschappij (VLM) implements this decree. The area type classification in MAP 6 replaces the former demarcation of the focus areas nitrate manure decree. The new classification consists of four types of area, where different area-specific measures are used. In the long term, the aim is to achieve the water quality objectives. The sixth manure action plan (MAP 6) provides for a biennial review of the classification of area types. This is done on the basis of the latest nitrate measurements in the surface and groundwater in agricultural area, carried out by the Flemish Environmental Agency. The new map of area types that will apply in the period 2021-2022 was adopted by the Flemish Government on 27 November 2020. In concrete terms, the area types of nitrate manure decree are defined as follows: — Flood zones of the Flemish water bodies as a basis These zones are used as a basic geographical unit for the classification into the different area types. In total, there are 265 drainage zones, depending on the assessment of the quality of surface and groundwater, each drainage zone is divided into one of the four area types. — Assessment of surface water The assessment of surface water quality is the basis of departure. The average nitrate concentration of the MAP measurement points is the indicator to assess the overall impact of agriculture on surface water quality in a given drain zone. The target value for the average nitrate concentration is 18 mg nitrate/l. This target value is derived from data analysis and is the translation rate of the limit value for nitrate nitrogen between good and moderate status of surface water quality from the Water Framework Directive. This limit value is 10 mg nitrate nitrogen/l, which corresponds to 44.3 mg nitrate/l, as the 90th percentile value. This means that 90 % of the measurements must comply with this limit value. Depending on the target distance to the target value, each drain zone shall be divided into one of the four surface water area types. — Groundwater assessment The average nitrate concentration in the upper filter of groundwater measurement points is a good indicator to assess the overall impact of agriculture on groundwater quality in a given drainage zone. Due to the longer journey times to groundwater, the trend of nitrate concentration in the groundwater type classification is also taken into account. — Area type classification on the basis of surface and groundwater In order to achieve a definitive delimitation, the definition on the basis of the surface water criterion is combined with the groundwater criterion. The area type classification based on surface water forms the basis and is increased by + 1 (up to a maximum of 3). Drainage zones that are area type 0 after the combination of surface and groundwater but where the 90th percentile value of all measurements in surface water measurement points (based on winter years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019) is higher than 44.3 mg nitrate/l are additionally referred to as area type 1.