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

农业用地的径流带来污染，继续在全国范围内造成水质问题。最近的评估表明，英格兰达到“良好生态状况”所需质量的河流比例已稳定在14%。英国有100多条河流被评估为“不良”状态。本港河溪的水质问题，对淡水生物、水处理成本及沿岸泳滩沃茨的水质，都有严重影响。虽然我们的河流的化学质量和生物状况是使用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河流集水区范围内，包括许多平方公里，这意味着来自许多上游来源的投入，包括农业和家庭化粪池系统。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，与营养应用有关。因此，目前的农业政策综合利用规章、财政支助（例如通过农业环境计划）和农场咨询，鼓励农民实行旨在减少水污染的最佳管理做法。这方面的一个关键挑战是，关于特定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做法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备选办法的有力证据，以此鼓励更多地采用最佳做法。可利用复制的实验平台提供有力的证据，说明耕作做法与土地覆盖和径流化学质量之间的联系。该提案将使用资本资金来改善（15个新的最先进的传感器）现有的国家能力研究和参与平台-英格兰西南部的北怀克农场平台，旨在测试英格兰两个最重要的空间农业系统（低地放牧牲畜和耕地）的可持续性。资本资金将用于采购和提供开放访问北怀克农场平台的当前水质监测能力的一步变化，以解决一个重要的战略研究需求，将具体的农业系统和最佳管理实践与水质影响联系起来。北怀克农场平台的所有土地管理和监测数据都可通过数据门户网站公开获取，该平台向外部研究人员和利益攸关方开放。因此，资本投资将支持多个利益攸关方的能力发生重大变化，使其能够参与或开展工作，更好地收集将土地覆被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.