In September, the IMPEL SWETE (Safeguarding the Water Environment Throughout Europe) project will be hosting 2 workshops.
Discharge permitting
On 14 & 15 September, a workshop will be held on the topic of discharge permitting in Bath (UK). The workshop will focus on exchanges of experiences and best practice, with a view to using this information to identify where common challenges might exist. A site visit to a wastewater treatment works is also planned.
Budget is available for 10 participants, and those who are interested should register an interest by 25 August at the latest.
Contact
Barrie Howe & Rob Hayes (Environment Agency for England)
Manure storage
The second workshop will be held on the topic of manure storage capacity and aims to provide practical examples of how manure storage capacity can be controlled as well as to highlight and discuss parameters that complicate an efficient control.
The desired final outcome of the workshop is a guidance tool with different examples of how manure
storage capacity can be controlled under various circumstances. Inspection authorities that wish to improve their control of manure storage capacity should be able to find examples of methods suitable for them and get knowledge about the basic conditions for using those methods.
Workshop programme
The workshop will be held 25 and 26 September in Aarhus (Denmark) and will be followed by a visit to nearby SEGES, which is the central advisory service for Danish farmers, as well as a field visit organized by SEGES. This service has developed the tool used for documenting sufficient manure storage capacity in Denmark.
Participants
Participants should be inspectors or policy makers working with controls of manure storage capacity (cf. the Nitrates Directive). Each participant is expected to make a presentation of how manure storage capacity is controlled in their own country or region and the challenges they experience in controlling the capacity. The participants can also be expected to contribute to some extent after the workshop in order to finalise the project.
Background for the workshop
The legislative drivers for this workshop are found in the Nitrates Directive annexes II and III:
- Annex II-A.5. “The capacity and construction of storage vessels for livestock manures, including measures to prevent water pollution by run-off and seepage into the groundwater and surface water of liquids containing livestock manures and effluents from stored plant materials such as silage.”
- Annex III-1.2. “The capacity of storage vessels for livestock manure; this capacity must exceed that required for storage throughout the longest period during which land application in the vulnerable zone is prohibited, except where it can be demonstrated to the competent authority that any quantity of manure in excess of the actual storage capacity will be disposed of in a manner which will not cause harm to the environment.”
Having sufficient capacity for storing manure is a simple way to limit the risk of manure being spread on
fields at unfavourable times of the year when crops do not uptake much Nitrogen, thus resulting in Nitrate leaching. Although the Nitrogen in manure is an important source of fertiliser, the costs of establishing storage facilities can hold farmers back from actually ensuring that they have sufficient capacity. Even though the requirement for sufficient storage capacity is simple, actual compliance can be difficult to control on the farms. At the IMPEL Water Conference in Florence 5-6 October 2016 and among participants in the nitrate diffuse pollution project a need for better control of storage capacity was expressed.
Countries vary considerably in national legislation, practices for storing manure, availability of data and
natural conditions. Therefore a control method functioning well in some countries might not be equally
effective in other countries. A variety of practical examples from different countries is therefore desirable.
Contact
Anette Dodensig Pedersen (Danish Environmental Protection Agency)
