4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313235363031 English Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en 2026-10-02T09:08:27.929Z NRW 1.0 wel utf8 British National Grid (EPSG::27700) Nutrients Review 2023 Nutrients Review 2023 2024-06-01 NRW_DS125601 http://naturalresources.wales/ On 1 April 2021, the Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021 came into force. These regulations revoked and replaced the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013. Their objective is to reduce the loss of pollutants from agriculture to the environment by establishing rules for certain farming practices. Following the implementation of the new Regulations, and at the request of the Welsh Government (WG), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) appointed consultants, Arup, to undertake a review of nutrients in water bodies across Wales. The aim was to develop a national-scale understanding of baseline nutrient water quality and assess potential nutrient risks. The review covers both nitrate and phosphate, which are considered the key nutrients contributing to poor water quality. The review assessed the following water body types across Wales: Groundwater Surface waters (rivers) Lakes Transitional and Coastal (TraC) waters The methodology used in the review broadly followed that applied during the 2017 NVZ review (NRW_DS116240), but was adapted to incorporate the assessment of phosphate. The methodologies provide a consistent and practical approach to identifying potentially polluted waters across Wales. On 1 April 2021, the Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021 came into force. These regulations revoked and replaced the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013. Their objective is to reduce the loss of pollutants from agriculture to the environment by establishing rules for certain farming practices. Following the implementation of the new Regulations, and at the request of the Welsh Government (WG), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) appointed consultants, Arup, to undertake a review of nutrients in water bodies across Wales. The aim was to develop a national-scale understanding of baseline nutrient water quality and assess potential nutrient risks. The review covers both nitrate and phosphate, which are considered the key nutrients contributing to poor water quality. The review assessed the following water body types across Wales: Groundwater Surface waters (rivers) Lakes Transitional and Coastal (TraC) waters The methodology used in the review broadly followed that applied during the 2017 NVZ review (NRW_DS116240), but was adapted to incorporate the assessment of phosphate. The methodologies provide a consistent and practical approach to identifying potentially polluted waters across Wales. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Hydrography GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme nitrates (nitrogen) phosphates nutrients phosphorus nutrient pollution Nitrate directive NRW Thesaurus 2026-08-27 geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely no limitations © CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose. Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved Open Government Licence English environment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2021-01-06 Wales (WLS) -5.311 -2.647 51.384 53.427 2023-01-01 2023-12-31 Geographic Information System ESRI Feature Class Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation. false The methods used in this review largely follow the 2016 NVZ methodology. This approach was adopted to enable comparison of the results with previous assessments of waters polluted by nutrients from agricultural sources. However, there are several key differences, including: Phosphorus has been included alongside nitrogen. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of the potential impacts of nutrients on water quality, as both nutrients play important roles in the nutrient cycle and should be considered when identifying measures to reduce nutrient inputs to water bodies. Modelling has combined both agricultural and urban land use, whereas previous reviews assessed these separately. Land use types and individual nutrient inputs can still be viewed separately within the spatial layers of the dashboard. A greater range of land use types has been included. Previous reviews used a maximum of five land use categories, whereas this review incorporates 17. The same apportionment methodology has been applied across all water body types, whereas different methods were used in previous reviews. Due to anomalous nutrient results affecting some water quality monitoring data, orthophosphate and total oxidised nitrogen (TON) data from 2014 to 2016 have been excluded from this review. The methods used in this review largely follow the 2016 NVZ methodology. This approach was adopted to enable comparison of the results with previous assessments of waters polluted by nutrients from agricultural sources. However, there are several key differences, including: Phosphorus has been included alongside nitrogen. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of the potential impacts of nutrients on water quality, as both nutrients play important roles in the nutrient cycle and should be considered when identifying measures to reduce nutrient inputs to water bodies. Modelling has combined both agricultural and urban land use, whereas previous reviews assessed these separately. Land use types and individual nutrient inputs can still be viewed separately within the spatial layers of the dashboard. A greater range of land use types has been included. Previous reviews used a maximum of five land use categories, whereas this review incorporates 17. The same apportionment methodology has been applied across all water body types, whereas different methods were used in previous reviews. Due to anomalous nutrient results affecting some water quality monitoring data, orthophosphate and total oxidised nitrogen (TON) data from 2014 to 2016 have been excluded from this review.