Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FAirWAY (Farm systems that produce good Water quality for drinking water supplies)

Teaser

Safe drinking water is vital for human health and the economy. Throughout the EU, diffuse pollution of nitrogen and pesticides from agriculture is the main obstacle to meeting the drinking water quality targets. Policies to protect drinking water resources are not achieving a...

Summary

Safe drinking water is vital for human health and the economy. Throughout the EU, diffuse pollution of nitrogen and pesticides from agriculture is the main obstacle to meeting the drinking water quality targets. Policies to protect drinking water resources are not achieving a consistent level of implementation and effectiveness across all member states.

The overall objective of FAIRWAY is
• to review approaches for protection of drinking water resources against pollution by pesticides and nitrate, and
• to identify and further develop innovative measures and governance approaches for a more effective drinking water protection.

Work performed

FAIRWAY started by building multi-actor platforms, linked to the case studies and the actors already involved in these studies. These multi-actor platforms are a solid base for executing and demonstrating the FAIRWAY project activities and serve as training centres and knowledge providers to actors. The multi-actor platforms (MAPs) were established and a management and communication structure of the MAPs was developed. The MAPs delivered input to the assessment of the use of agri-drinking water quality indicators, measures and practices to decrease nitrate and pesticide leaching, use of decision support tools, the assessment of governance arrangements, and stakeholder feedbacks on the evidence based practice in the case studies. This information will be used in an overall analysis of the success and failure factors of the different case studies and Integrated assessments and recommendations of most promising measures, policies and tools at national and EU level. The overall analysis will be carried out in the next period of FAIRWAY.

A review report of Agri-Drinking Water quality Indicators on farm level, study site and drinking water source has been delivered. In the next period, the results will be reviewed, and State and Impact Agri-Drinking Water quality Indicators will be selected and prioritized with reference to case study site and drinking water source. In order to further drive forward the prioritisation of the selected indicators in FAIRWAY, it is intended to connect the indicators from the agricultural and the water work side, using statistical methods.

A database that will be used for both i) calculating the associated indicators and ii) collecting and archiving all data involved in the Fairway project. This task will have to face the challenge of harmonizing datasets coming from very different case studies. Database architecture is mainly driven by existing data set coming from each of the case studies, and available datasets in EU. This database will be developed as a possible model for all drinking water resources across the EU. The database will be constructed in the next period. Mining of monitoring data of drinking water quality resources will be conducted by the support of the involved organizations in the 13 case studies.

Two review reports have been delivered, one on effective nitrate leaching mitigation measures and practices and one on effective pesticides leaching mitigation measures and practices. A decision support tool for the selection of most promising measures and practices was approved. The reports and additional literature that will be gathered will be the basis for the identification of most promising measures for improving water quality.

A technical report with a review of existing support tools has been delivered. More than 150 decision support tools were identified in total, of which 36 were selected for further investigation based on their national importance and relevance to the project aims. In the next period, the selected decision support tools will be evaluated in case studies at farm, catchment and regional scale.

A comprehensive assessment is in progress of the coherence and consistency of the EU directives and policies that apply to farm water management with regard to water standards, monitoring and reporting requirements, avenues for actor participation, and enforcement methods. In addition, an assessment of national and regional farm management approaches in different Member States will be compared. This assessment is based on information provided by the case studies. Governance approaches, key legislative and policy instruments (voluntary and mandatory), available funds and means at EU and national level, mechanisms and processes for actor engagement will be addressed and their effectiveness towards the objectives of prevention of diffuse agricultural pollution will be assessed. A first draft was discussed with the partners involved in WP6 and the report will be delivered

Final results

The output will provide a blueprint for multi-actor engagement across the EU and will inform policy makers of the relative cost effectiveness of interventions.


The expected results of FAIRWAY are
i) increase the scientific understanding of the relationship between agriculture and drinking water protection,
ii) increase the understanding for the barriers to practical implementing of measures and deliver innovative measures, tools and instruments to solve these barriers,
iii) develop harmonized monitoring protocols and data-sets for monitoring of key farming practices and water quality,
iv) develop effective governance approaches, and
v) increase awareness and involvement of farmers and other citizens.


FAIRWAY will contribute to the following socio-economic impacts:
• Good cooperation between actors on pesticides, fertilisers and irrigation management practices capable of reducing point source and diffuse pollution in different contexts
• Greater involvement of farmers and other citizens in the monitoring of water quality
• Water governance models that are more conducive to the adoption and long-term durability of efficient on-farm and land-use strategies
• Integrated scientific support for relevant EU policies (e.g. CAP, WFD, ND, PD, Fertiliser Regulation)

Website & more info

More info: https://www.fairway-project.eu/.