Area types nitrate fertilizer decree, 01/01/2023

Since 1 January 2019, a new Manure Decree has been in force in Flanders, the 'Decree amending the Decree of 5 April 1995 containing general provisions on environmental policy and of the Manure 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 Manure Decree, also referred to as MAP 6 (Manure Action Plan 6), aims to reduce water pollution by nitrates and phosphates from agricultural sources and to prevent further pollution. The Manure Bank department of the Flemish Land Agency (VLM) implements this decree. The area type classification in MAP 6 replaces the former demarcation of the focus areas in the Nitrate Manure Decree. The new classification consists of four area types and various area-oriented measures are being deployed there. In this way, the aim is to achieve the water quality objectives in the long term. The sixth manure action plan (MAP 6) provides for a biennial revision of the classification of the area types. This is done on the basis of the most recent nitrate measurements in surface and groundwater in agricultural areas, carried out by the Flemish Environment Agency. The new map with area types that will apply in the period 2023-2024 was established by the Flemish Government on 3 February 2023. In concrete terms, the area types of nitrate manure decree are delineated as follows: - Run-off zones of the Flemish water bodies as a basis These zones are used as a basic geographical unit for the division into the various area types. There are a total of 274 runoff zones, depending on the assessment of the quality of the surface and groundwater, each runoff zone is classified into one of four area types. - Assessment of the surface water The assessment of the surface water quality forms the starting point. The average nitrate concentration of the MAP measuring points is the indicator to assess the global impact of agriculture on the surface water quality in a certain runoff zone. The target value for the average nitrate concentration is 18 mg nitrate/l. This target value is derived on the basis of data analysis and is the translation of the limit value for nitrate nitrogen between a good and moderate condition of the 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. In concrete terms, this means that 90% of the measurements must comply with this limit value. Depending on the target distance from the target value, each runoff zone is classified into one of the four surface water area types. - Assessment of groundwater The average nitrate concentration in the upper filter of the groundwater monitoring points is a good indicator for assessing the overall impact of agriculture on the groundwater quality in a certain runoff zone. Because of the longer travel times to the groundwater, the trend of the nitrate concentration is also taken into account in the area type classification for groundwater. - Area type classification based on surface water and groundwater To arrive at a definitive demarcation, the demarcation on the basis of the surface water criterion is combined with the groundwater criterion. The area type classification based on the surface water forms the basis and is increased by +1 (up to a maximum of 3) depending on the result of the groundwater assessment. Runoff zones that are area type 0 after the combination of surface water 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.