Article 10 Monitoring

The competent authority shall ensure that maps showing the percentage of farms, number of parcels, percentage of livestock, percentage of agricultural land and local land use covered by individual derogations for each municipality are drawn up and updated every year.

Data on crop rotations and agricultural practices covered by individual derogations shall be collected and updated every year by the competent authority.

The monitoring network for sampling of surface and shallow groundwater referred in Article 10(2) of Commission Decision 2008/64/EC^f1 shall be maintained to assess the impact of the derogation on water quality. The monitoring network will include measurements of the nitrate and phosphate of rivers flowing to the North Sea. The amount of initial monitoring sites shall not be reduced and the location of the sites shall not be changed during the period of applicability of this Decision.

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

The monitoring sites, corresponding to at least 150 farms, established under Decision 2008/64/EC shall be maintained 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 runoff, both under derogation and non-derogation conditions.

The monitoring sites shall include main soil types (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.

Survey and continuous nutrient analysis shall provide data on local land use, crop rotations and agricultural practices on farms benefiting from individual derogations.

Those data may be used for model-based calculations of the magnitude of nitrate leaching and phosphorus losses from fields where up to 250 kg or up to 200 kg nitrogen per hectare per year of grazing livestock manure and treated pig manure is applied.

The monitoring network including shallow groundwater, soil water, drainage water and streams in farms belonging to the monitoring network, shall provide data on nitrate and phosphorus concentration in water leaving the root zone and entering the groundwater and surface water system.