Article 10 Monitoring

Maps showing the percentage of farms, number of parcels, percentage of livestock and percentage of agricultural land covered by individual derogation for each Municipality shall be drawn by the competent authority and shall be updated every year. Those maps shall be submitted to the Commission annually and for the first time by February 2008.

A monitoring network for sampling of surface and shallow groundwater shall be established and maintained to assess the impact of the derogation on water quality.

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 parcels where up to 200 kg nitrogen per hectare per year and 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year from manure from grazing livestock and treated manure are applied according to Article 6(2).

Monitoring sites, corresponding to at least 150 farms, shall be established in order to provide data on nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in soil water, on mineral nitrogen in soil profile and corresponding nitrogen and phosphorus losses through the root zone into groundwater, as well as on nitrogen and phosphorus losses by surface and subsurface run-off, both under derogation and non derogation conditions. The monitoring sites shall be representative of each soil type (clay, loamy, sandy and loessial soils), fertilisation practices and crops. The composition of the monitoring network shall not be modified during the period of applicability of this decision.

A reinforced monitoring shall be conducted in agricultural catchments on sandy soils.