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UK: The Welsh Government Publishes the Water Resources Regulations 2021

The Welsh Ministers published The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021 on 27 January 2021. These Regulations make provision concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources.
These Regulations revoke and replace—
(a) the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2506 (W. 245)) which control the application of nitrogen fertiliser in nitrate sensitive areas, and (b) the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage and Slurry) (Wales) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1493 (W. 136)) which regulate the custody and control of silage and slurry and provided the design and construction standards applicable for its storage. These regulations will come into force on 1 April 2021.
Principal Changes
Whereas the requirements under the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013 applied only to holdings situated in designated Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, these requirements will now apply to all holdings in Wales. The majority of the measures in the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage and Slurry) (Wales) Regulations 2010 will continue to apply under these Regulations but the capacity requirements for the storage of organic manure and silage in those Regulations are superseded and mirror those in the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013. Furthermore, persons proposing to build or improve their storage facility for slurry or silage will be required to notify the Natural Resources Body for Wales (“NRBW”) 14 days before construction work is begun, replacing the previous requirement for notification prior to the storage facility’s actual use. Occupiers of organic holdings wishing to benefit from the exemption to the closed periods for spreading organic manure with high readily available nitrogen (regulation 20) must now submit an undertaking to the control system referred to in Article 27 of Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 rather than register with the Advisory Committee on Organic Standards which has now been dissolved.

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