[DREAL OCCITANIA] Regional action programme to protect water against pollution caused by nitrates of agricultural origin.

Under the Nitrates Directive, action programmes are defined and made compulsory in areas vulnerable to pollution by nitrates of agricultural origin. They shall include the actions and measures necessary for the proper control of nitrogen fertilisers and the appropriate management of agricultural land, in order to limit the leakage of nitrates to groundwater, surface fresh water, estuary waters, coastal and marine waters. The implementation of this Directive in France has given rise to six generations of action programmes since 1996. Since the fifth generation, the Nitrates action programme has been made up of: a national action programme, which contains eight compulsory measures on all French vulnerable areas and regional action programmes which, in a proportionate and appropriate manner for each territory, reinforce certain measures in the national action programme and set out additional actions necessary to achieve water quality objectives in relation to nitrate pollution. On 21 December 2018, a new Regional Action Programme was adopted for the Occitania region.