THE Government has outlined measures to combat agricultural water pollution, highlighting the dangers of contaminants running off fields and into watercourses.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley, launching consultation on the measures, said farming was not the only cause of the problem, but was the most significant. Other sources included forestry, industrial land use, construction, urbanisation, transport and recreation.

He said agriculture covers 76 per cent of the land in the country and research showed that it was responsible for about 70 per cent of nitrates and more than 40 per cent of phosphates entering English waters.

Raised concentrations of pollutants can have serious effects on plant and animal populations. For instance, increased levels of nitrates and phosphates in water can cause algal blooms, which starve the water of oxygen, killing fish and plant life.

English Nature has highlighted potentially at-risk areas in the region as sections of Teesmouth and the Cleveland coast, the Durham coast and the River Coquet, Coquet Valley, Tweed estuary and Lindisfarne in Northumberland.

The consultation document, called Developing Measures to Promote Catchment-Sensitive Farming, will ask farmers, environmental groups, industry and other interested parties for their views on the proposed measures, which include improving land management practices, reducing the usage of potentially harmful pollutants and changing land use in areas with an extremely high risk of pollution.

Saying he looked forward to working with the farming industry, Mr Morley said: "As we reduce other sources of pollution, so agriculture becomes a comparatively greater source of pollution."

The consultation will run until September 9. For details, go to www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/dwpa

Published: 20/07/2004