LEX-FAOC027907

The Regulation provides for the assessment of water nitrate contamination as per agricultural activities and take necessary technical and for the prevention measures to enact in case of such contamination.The Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Environment and Forestry, the Ministries of Health, and Energy and Natural Resources shall jointly cooperate in order to: i) assess surface and underground waters potentially containing nitrate or that could be contaminated by nitrate if no preventive measures are taken; and ii) whether natural lakes, other fresh water resources, estuaries, coastal waters and sea waters are eutrophic or shall be eutrophic if no measures are taken. All related parties in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shall formulate the principles of good agricultural practices within two years from the publication of this Regulation, in order to enact and enforce a general protection level against overall water contamination. An action plan shall be prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and it shall include, among others, a list of fertilizers approved for agricultural use in a defined lapse of time, an evaluation of the properties of animal derived fertilizers, eventual storage facilities, nitrogen contents present in fertilizer and the absorption rate of plants. The plan shall be monitored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Reference and evaluation analytical methods are detailed in the text.;