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18 February 2003
Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) in Lower Nithsdale
Poor Science accepted by Scottish Parliament
and promoted by RSPB
The following article published in the
Scottish Farming Leader March 2003 illustrates how the Scottish
Parliament is prepared to enforce poor science in carrying out Directives
“The Scottish Executive proposed that lower
Nithsdale from around Thornhill to the sea be designated as a NVZ.
The legislation requires action by farmers and not any other source
of nitrates leaching to underground water.
NFUS objected, based on the quality of evidence
being used by the Scottish Executive to justify the proposal.
With the assistance of Buccleugh Estates, expert
hydrological advice was commissioned from Entec Consultants*.
Their report showed that underground water in the Dumfries aquifer
was in no danger of passing the threshold level at which designation
would be necessary under EU law. This is the water that provides
significant part of the public water supply.
Also, NFUS challenged the admissibility of the
single reading from a borehole site in the Thronhill area that breached
the limit for concentration of nitrates in water. We pointed out
that the EU Directive requires regular readings over a twelve month
period.
In addition, it needed to be checked because it
was radically out-of-line with other readings in the area, possibly
because of surface contamination and because it had been taken during
particularly wet weather during August.
NFUS took the issue to the Scottish Parliament
where John Scott MSP moved an annulment motion that would have stopped
approval by the Transport and Environment Committee. This would
have forced the issue to a debate in the full Parliament.
At the Committee, on 22 January 2003, the Minister
said that he had been told that he was obliged to act because of
the association of the subject with drinking water safety. However,
the bore hole with the high reading was not deep enough to be sampling
the aquifer.
Evidence from sampling of the water supply points
showed that it would take at least 60 years to get to the problem
level on current trends.
Nonetheless, the Committee voted 6 to 2 with one
abstention in favour of designation.”
Reproduced from NFUS Scottish Farming
Leader March 2003
* Entec is one of the UK's largest environmental and engineering
consultancies, with HQ in Gosforth, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (www.entec.com)
(www.rtpiconsultants.co.uk).
The following is the reported minutes of the Scottish Parliament
Committee that considered the matter
(www.scottish.parliament.uk/official_report/cttee/trans-03/trmop0122.htm)
TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
MINUTES
2nd Meeting, 2003 (Session 1)
Wednesday 22 January 2003
Present:
Bruce Crawford
Robin Harper
Angus MacKay
Maureen Macmillan
Fiona McLeod
Bristow Muldoon (Convener)
Nora Radcliffe (Deputy Convener)
John Scott
Elaine Thomson
Also present:
Ross Finnie, Alasdair Morgan, Alex Fergusson and David Mundell.
The meeting opened at 9.51 am.
1. Subordinate Legislation:
The Committee took evidence on the Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable
Zones (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations 2002 (SSI 2002/546) from-
Jim Walker, President, NFU Scotland
Richard Church, Hydrologist, Entec UK Limited
Lisa Schneidau, Convener, Agricultural Task Force, Scottish Wildlife
Trust
Fiona Newcombe, Agricultural Task Force, RSPB Scotland.
2. Subordinate Legislation:
The Committee considered the following negative instrument: The
Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations
2002 (SSI 2002/546)
John Scott moved-S1M-3731: That the Transport and the Environment
Committee recommends that nothing further be done under the Designation
of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations 2002 (SSI
2002/546)
After debate, the motion
was disagreed to by division:
For 2, Against 6, Abstentions 1.
Land-Care Note:
The members of the Transport and Environment Committee belong
to the following parties:
Bruce Crawford - SNP, Mid Scotland and Fife
Robin Harper - Scottish Green Party, Lothians
Angus MacKay - Labour, Edinburgh South
Maureen Macmillan - Labour, Highlands and Islands
Fiona McLeod - SNP Deputy Spokesperson on the Environment, West
of Scotland
Bristow Muldoon (Convener) - Labour
Nora Radcliffe (Deputy Convener) - Lib Dem, Gordon
John Scott - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Ayr
Elaine Thomson - Labour, Aberdeen North
One has to wonder why the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the RSPB
were required to give evidence as their relevance to nitrates in
drinking water is not apparent.
Readers' attention is drawn to the article by Christopher Booker,
"Pointless Prohibition - NVZ's" in the Daily Telegraph
of 22 September 2002 (Click
here to view).
Further Reading Recommended by Land-Care
Prof Trewavas and other speakers at LEAF Conference 26 September,
Battleby, Perthshire. Land-Care, 2002, click
here to view.
Henton, Tricia (2002). Legislation, Directives and Confusion - Or
Is It? Paper delivered at LEAF Conference, 26 September, Battleby,
Perthshire.
(Filed October 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
click here to view).
Resignation of SEPA Chief Executive, 24 October 2002.
(Filed 28 October 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
click
here to view).
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