Diffuse pollution, water and land management
Not all pollution is easy to track back to a
single source such as a sinking ship or illegally dumped
chemicals. Diffuse pollution is pollution that does not
enter our water courses from the end of a pipe. It can be
caused by run-off from agricultural land, highways, towns or
forestry plantations.
Types of diffuse pollution range from toxic chemicals such as
Sheep Dip, pesticides and metals, to nutrients such as Nitrogen
phosphates. Even soil is a pollutant in water because it
smothers spawning beds for fish and prevents sunlight from reaching
plants that grow in water.
CCW is working with the Welsh Assembly Government, the
Environment Agency, the Snowdonia National Park Authority and
farmers on a pilot project to try to reduce the amounts of diffuse
pollution from farming reaching waters around LLyn Tegid in North
Wales and the Afon Cleddau in Pembrokeshire. The project is
called 'Catchment Sensitive Farming' and you can read more about it
one the Welsh Assembly Government website (see link below).
CCW will be working with farmers and other partners to ensure
that diffuse pollution is tackled wherever this is a problem in
Welsh rivers, lakes and wetlands.