Areas contaminated with nitrate in accordance with § 13a DüV (12/2022) and affected field blocks (as at 09/2022) within the areas contaminated with nitrate in accordance with § 13a DüV (12/2022)

In accordance with Section 13a of the DüV, the agricultural land situated within the areas contaminated with nitrate has stricter requirements for fertilisation on grounds of groundwater protection. The measures are necessary to achieve the objectives set out in the EC Water Framework Directive and the Nitrates Directive with regard to the nitrate pollution of groundwater and to meet them in the long term. The designation of these “red areas” as at 12/2022 was carried out by LANUV NRW in accordance with the provisions of the General Administrative Regulation on the designation of nitrates and eutrophicated areas (AVV GEA) of 10 August 2022. The basis for the designation are the groundwater measuring stations of the expulsion measuring network pursuant to § 4 AVV GEA. This measuring network contains all measuring points of the WFD measuring network quality (WRRL measuring points) and the EUA/Nitrate measuring network, provided that they meet the requirements of Appendix 1 AVV GEA. According to § 3 and § 5 AVV GEA, for the determination of nitrate concentrations in areas where denitrifying conditions (nitrate degradation) are present in groundwater, the nitrate content in groundwater must be calculated according to Appendix 2 of the Groundwater Ordinance (GrwV) before denitrification according to the best available methodology. This value must be taken into account accordingly — if higher — instead of the nitrate concentration. Baseline areas for designation are the groundwater bodies according to the EC Water Framework Directive of the third state and trend assessment in which nitrate loads or a persistently rising nitrate trend are currently present (data base WFD measurement points of the 3. Monitoring cycle 2013-2018). In addition, groundwater bodies (GWK) must be taken into account, within which a measuring station of the expulsion measuring network with agricultural influence shows an excess of the nitrate threshold value or an increase in nitrate trend or, taking into account denitrification (see above), exceeds the nitrate threshold value. In the next step, within these affected CHPs, a demarcation between polluted and unencumbered sub-areas (immission-based demarcation) takes place. For this purpose, hydrogeological, hydraulic or hydrogeological and hydraulic criteria based on groundwater equilibrium maps, a modeled groundwater surface of the country, and hydrogeological maps are used in addition to nitrate concentrations measured at the measuring stations of the detection network (2016-2019). The demarcated sub-areas are designated as areas contaminated with nitrate in accordance with Section 13a of the DüV. If a share of at least 20 percent of a reference agricultural parcel (in NRW: Field block) located within a polluted area, according to § 7 AVV GEA, their total area is allocated to the areas contaminated with nitrate. In order to clarify the concern of the individual agricultural land as of 1.12.2022, the topic is “Plot blocks affected (09/2022) within the areas contaminated with nitrate (12/2022)”