Mixed results for nitrate compliance

SEVERAL countries must further improve their compliance with the Nitrates Directive, said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, when he issued information on nitrate levels in water in the 2004-2007 period submitted by member states.

He said nitrate levels were still too high in groundwater in England, parts of Estonia, the south-east Netherlands, Flanders in Belgium, Brittany in France, northern Italy, north-east Spain, south-east Slovakia, southern Romania, and parts of Malta and Cyprus.

Results for Ireland were mixed. Along with Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Britain, Ireland had rising nitrates in groundwater at more than 30% of monitoring stations. And Ireland was the only member state of the eight where quality was not improving at a similar or higher percentages of monitoring stations.