Regulatory Practice and Transport Modelling for Nitrate Pollution in Groundwater

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Regulatory Practice and Transport Modelling for Nitrate Pollution in Groundwater Regulatory practice and transport modelling for nitrate pollution in groundwater Groundwater Science Programme Open Report OR/16/033 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GROUNDWATER SCIENCE PROGRAMME OPEN REPORT OR/16/033 Regulatory practice and transport modelling for nitrate pollution in groundwater M E Stuart, R S Ward, M Ascott, A J Hart1 The National Grid and other Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and database rights 2012. Ordnance Survey Licence 1 Environment Agency No. 100021290. Keywords Nitrate Vulnerable Zones; groundwater; unsaturated zone. Front cover Modelled nitrate arrival time at the water table Bibliographical reference STUART, M E, WARD, R S, ASCOTT, M, HART A J. 2016. Regulatory practice and transport modelling for nitrate pollution in groundwater. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/16/033. 74pp. Copyright in materials derived from the British Geological Survey’s work is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and/or the authority that commissioned the work. You may not copy or adapt this publication without first obtaining permission. Contact the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Section, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, e-mail [email protected]. You may quote extracts of a reasonable length without prior permission, provided a full acknowledgement is given of the source of the extract. Maps and diagrams in this book use topography based on Ordnance Survey mapping. © NERC 2016. All rights reserved Keyworth, Nottingham British Geological Survey 2016 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The full range of our publications is available from BGS shops at British Geological Survey offices Nottingham, Edinburgh, London and Cardiff (Welsh publications only) see contact details below or shop online at www.geologyshop.com BGS Central Enquiries Desk Tel 0115 936 3143 Fax 0115 936 3276 The London Information Office also maintains a reference collection of BGS publications, including maps, for consultation. email [email protected] We publish an annual catalogue of our maps and other publications; this catalogue is available online or from any of the BGS shops. Environmental Science Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG The British Geological Survey carries out the geological survey of Tel 0115 936 3241 Fax 0115 936 3488 Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the latter as an agency service email [email protected] for the government of Northern Ireland), and of the surrounding continental shelf, as well as basic research projects. It also Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South, Edinburgh EH14 4AP undertakes programmes of technical aid in geology in developing countries. Tel 0131 667 1000 email [email protected] The British Geological Survey is a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Tel 020 7589 4090 Fax 020 7584 8270 Tel 020 7942 5344/45 email [email protected] Columbus House, Greenmeadow Springs, Tongwynlais, Cardiff CF15 7NE Tel 029 2052 1962 Fax 029 2052 1963 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8BB Tel 01491 838800 Fax 01491 692345 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Ballymiscaw, Belfast, BT4 3SB Tel 028 9038 8462 Fax 028 9038 8461 www.bgs.ac.uk/gsni/ Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1EU Tel 01793 411500 Fax 01793 411501 www.nerc.ac.uk Website www.bgs.ac.uk Shop online at www.geologyshop.com OR/16/033 Foreword This report forms the first deliverable of a project jointly funded by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the Environment Agency to inform our understanding of the transport of nitrate in the subsurface and the implications of unsaturated zone travel time in regulation including for he nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) designation process. NVZs are delineated by the Environment Agency in compliance with the European Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC). Acknowledgements The report authors are grateful to the staff of the Environment Agency who contributed data, advice and comments during the production of this report. These include Alwyn Hart, Tim Besien, Sarah Scott, Polly Wallace and Lucy Roberts. The project was managed for the Environment Agency by Andrew Onobrakpeya i OR/16/033 Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... i Contents .......................................................................................................................................... ii Summary ........................................................................................................................................ v 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project objectives ............................................................................................................ 2 2 The UK groundwater nitrate legacy ..................................................................................... 3 2.1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 BGS nitrate legacy model (NTB) ................................................................................... 6 3 NVZ designations under the Nitrates Directive ................................................................ 17 3.1 1996 .............................................................................................................................. 17 3.2 2002 Review ................................................................................................................. 20 3.3 2008 Review ................................................................................................................. 24 4 Assessment of the 2012 designation process for groundwater ......................................... 29 4.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 29 4.2 Designated NVZ areas .................................................................................................. 36 4.3 Appeals process ............................................................................................................ 36 5 The Water Framework Directive ....................................................................................... 37 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 37 5.2 Environmental objectives ............................................................................................. 37 5.3 2009 WFD nitrate results .............................................................................................. 38 6 Other nitrate legacy modelling ........................................................................................... 40 6.1 Nitrate concentrations in the Thames Basin ................................................................. 40 6.2 Other approaches to predicting nitrate concentrations in groundwater ........................ 43 7 Application of the BGS unsaturated zone model to inform NVZ designation ............... 47 7.1 Approach ...................................................................................................................... 47 7.2 Proposed Phase 2 project activities .............................................................................. 48 References .................................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix 1 Summary of the decisions made by the NVZ Appeals Panel (as at 7th April 2010) 51 ii OR/16/033 FIGURES Figure 2.1 Nitrate profiles from shallow pits on the Yorkshire Chalk (from Foster and Crease, 1974) ........................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2.2 Correlating nitrate peaks and cropping records (after Young et al., 1976a) ........... 4 Figure 2.3 a) Typical early nitrate profiles and subsequent sequential reprofiling (from Foster et al., 1986) and b) Sequential porewater profiles for tritium (from Geake and Foster, 1989) ............................................................................................................ 4 Figure 2.4 Porewater profiles in the important aquifers in England and Wales collected by BGS, NERC Lowland catchments research project (LOCAR), WRc, Southern Water Authority (SWA) and the University of Birmingham (Stuart, 2005) ........... 5 Figure 2.5 Flow chart of the spatial-temporal GIS model and main data sources .................... 7 Figure 2.6 Simplified 1:625,000 scale hydrogeological map showing locations of major aquifers with unsaturated zone travel times attributed from measured values in Table 2.1 .................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 2.7 Interpolation of groundwater levels from topography and surface water information. In this cross section the base level has been interpolated between
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