Nitrates concentrations of agricultural origin - 2015/2016 - Groundwater - whole France

Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991, known as the Nitrates Directive, aims to protect water quality by preventing pollution of groundwater and surface water by nitrates of agricultural origin, in particular by promoting the use of good agricultural practices for the management of nitrogen. Its guidance is largely reflected in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000. It requires Member States to: • carry out monitoring campaigns for nitrate concentrations in aquatic environments (surface and groundwater) at least every four years; • designate specific protection zones affected or threatened by pollution caused by nitrates of agricultural origin, known as vulnerable zones; • drawing up action programmes, the measures of which must be applied by farmers operating in vulnerable areas; • establish good agricultural practices (nitrogen fertilisation, land management) to be implemented voluntarily by farmers. In France, the implementation of the Nitrates Directive began in 1992 with the first monitoring campaign: nitrate concentrations are then measured at approximately 3,000 sites (so-called "measuring stations") located in or near agricultural areas. The results make it possible to establish the first delimitation of vulnerable zones in 1997. Five other campaigns followed (1997-1998, 2000-2001, 2004-2005, 2010-2011 and 2014-2015). In addition to these specific campaigns carried out under the Nitrates Directive, and in order to better monitor the development of water quality in relation to this parameter, the Ministry responsible for the environment, the French Office for Biodiversity and the Office International de l’Eau (OIEau) have been producing a summary document each year since 2006 on the results of the nitrate concentration measurements produced under the national monitoring programme for aquatic environments (monitoring monitoring, operational monitoring, complementary networks), in application of the WFD. The measuring stations selected to study the evolution of concentrations in areas under agricultural pressure are then those that are common to the last campaign carried out under the Nitrates Directive. This dataset corresponds to the results of the national monitoring programme, carried out under the WFD, of the stations selected during the 2014-2015 nitrate monitoring campaign, over the period from 01/10/2015 to 30/09/2016, for groundwater.