Nitrate Vulnerable Zones

Published by:
Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot
Last updated:
21 November 2023
Topic:
Not added
Licence:
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Summary

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas within Scotland that contain surface water or groundwater that is susceptible to nitrate pollution from agricultural activities. They are designated in accordance with the requirements of the European Commision's Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC, aims to protect water quality across Europe by preventing nitrates from agricultural sources polluting ground and surface waters and by promoting the use of good farming practices. The Scottish Government is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of the aquatic environment, and carries out a review of the NVZ areas every four years. In 2016, five areas of Scotland were designated as NVZs under the following regulations: The Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/373). The five NVZ areas were designated as nitrate levels from agricultural sources either resulted, or would likely result, in a concentration equal or exceeding 50 milligrammes of nitrate per litre of water in either surface water or groundwater. The five areas within Scotland, currently designated as NVZs, are: Aberdeenshire, Banff, Buchan and Moray, Strathmore and Fife, Stranraer Lowlands, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Borders, and Lower Nithsdale.

NVZs were most recently reviewed in 2017 and it was concluded that no changes to the data were required.

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Link to the data Format File added Data preview
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones ZIP 21 November 2023 Not available
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones N/A 21 November 2023 Not available
AE:NitrateVulnerableZones N/A 21 November 2023 Not available
NitrateVulnerableZones N/A 21 November 2023 Not available

Additional information

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Added to data.gov.uk
2023-11-21T15:50:17
Access contraints
The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Copyright Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year)
Harvest GUID
0bcbd0ce-05e7-4ea3-9cd9-3699cb7a5894
Extent
Latitude: 60.87° to 54.63°
Longitude: -8.80° to -0.71°
Spatial reference system
Dataset reference date
2002-07-01 (creation)
2016-11-16 (revision)
Frequency of update
asNeeded
Responsible party
Scottish Government (publisher, pointOfContact)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng
Source Metadata
XML
HTML

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