A step change in compelling evidence on water quality impacts of agricultural practice

农田径流带来的污染继续对全国水质造成问题。最近的评估表明，英格兰达到“良好生态状态”必要质量的河流比例已经稳定在14%。英国有100多条河流被评估为“糟糕”状态。我们河流中的水质问题有许多严重的影响，包括淡水生物、水处理成本和沿海洗浴水的质量。虽然我们的河流的化学质量和生物状况是通过一个国家河流站点网络进行监测的，该网络为官方报告提供数据，但这些站点通常位于包括许多平方公里的河流集水区，这意味着来自众多上游来源（包括农业和家庭化粪池系统）的输入是混合的。现代集约化农业已被确定为水质恶化的一个关键原因，例如，营养物的施用。因此，目前的农业政策混合使用监管、财政支持（例如通过农业环境计划）和农场咨询来鼓励农民制定旨在减少水污染的最佳管理做法。这里的一个关键挑战是，关于具体农业做法对农田排放的水的质量的影响的现有数据很少。相反，现有的监测能力为不同实践的综合影响提供了证据。因此，采用最佳管理做法可能会受到抵制，因为利益攸关方希望看到具体管理方案的有力证据，以此作为增加采用最佳做法的激励。复制实验平台可用于提供关于耕作方式与土地覆盖和径流化学质量之间联系的有力证据。该提案将使用资本资金来改进现有的国家能力研究和参与平台（15个新的最先进的传感器）——英格兰西南部的North Wyke农场平台，旨在测试英格兰两种最重要的农业系统（低地放牧牲畜和可耕地）的可持续性。资本资金将用于采购和提供一个台阶上的变化，在目前的水质监测能力的开放访问北威克农场平台，以解决一个重要的战略研究需要强有力的证据联系具体的农业系统和最佳管理实践，其中的水质影响。来自North Wyke农场平台的所有土地管理和监测数据都可以通过数据门户公开获取，该平台向外部研究人员和利益相关者开放。因此，资本投资将支持多个利益相关者逐步改变参与或制定工作的能力，以改进收集将土地覆盖或管理与水质联系起来的令人信服的证据。

Runoff from agricultural land carries pollution which continues to cause problems for water quality nationally. Recent assessments suggest that the proportion of rivers in England meeting the necessary quality for 'good ecological status' has plateaued at 14%. Over 100 rivers in England have been assessed as being in 'bad' status. The water quality problems in our rivers have many serious implications including those for freshwater biology, water treatment costs and the quality of coastal bathing waters. Although the chemical quality and biological status of our rivers is monitored using a national network of river sites, which provides data for official reporting purposes, these sites are typically located at river catchment scales encompassing many kilometres squared meaning that the inputs from numerous upstream sources including farming and domestic septic systems are mixed. Modern intensive farming has been identified as one key cause of water quality deterioration in conjunction with, for example, nutrient applications. Accordingly, current agricultural policy uses a mix of regulation, financial support (e.g. through agri-environment schemes) and on-farm advice to encourage farmers to enact best management practices designed to reduce water pollution. A key challenge here is that existing data on the impact of specific agricultural practices on the quality of water emitted from farmed land is sparse. Instead, existing monitoring capability provides evidence for the amalgamated impacts of different practices. The uptake of best management practices can therefore be resisted since stakeholders expect to see robust evidence for specific management options as an incentive for increased uptake of best practice. Replicated experimental platforms can be used to provide robust evidence on the links between farming practices and land cover and the chemical quality of runoff. This proposal will use capital funding to improve (15 new state-of-the-art sensors) an existing National Capability research and engagement platform - the North Wyke Farm Platform in SW England, designed to test the sustainability of the two most spatially important farming systems (lowland grazing livestock and arable) across England. The capital funding will be used to procure and deliver a step change in the current water quality monitoring capability of the open access North Wyke Farm Platform to address an important strategic research need for robust evidence linking specific farming systems and best management practices therein to water quality impacts. All land management and monitoring data from the North Wyke Farm Platform are publicly available via a data portal and the platform is open to external researchers and stakeholders. The capital investment will therefore support a step change in the capability of multiple stakeholders to engage with or enact work on improving the collection of compelling evidence linking land cover or management to water quality.