Article 7 Monitoring

Maps showing the percentage of farms, percentage of livestock and percentage of agricultural land covered by individual derogation in each municipality, shall be drawn by the competent authority and shall be updated every year.

Those maps shall be submitted to the Commission annually.

A monitoring network for sampling of surface and shallow groundwater shall be established and maintained to assess the impact of derogation on water quality. The existing monitoring network shall be reinforced in the districts with 3 % or more of farms benefiting from individual derogations over the total number of farms.

Survey and nutrient analysis shall provide data on local land use, crop rotations and agricultural practices on farms benefiting from individual derogations. Those data can be used for model-based calculations of the magnitude of nitrate leaching and phosphorus losses from fields where up to 230 kg nitrogen per hectare per year from livestock manure is applied.

Monitoring sites shall be established to provide data on nitrogen in water leaving the root zone and entering the groundwater system and on nitrogen losses by surface and subsurface runoff, both under derogation and non derogation conditions.