Nitrates Vulnerable Zones are designated areas of land draining into waters polluted by nitrates from agriculture.
The Europen Nitrates Directive requires NVZs to be designated and for farmers with land in NVZs to follow mandatory rules to tackle nitrate loss from agriculture.
The Nitrates Directive is implemented by separate regulations in England and Wales. We are responsible for enforcing and assessing farmers' compliance with these regulations.
In England
The regulations that implement the Nitrates Directive in England are called the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008. These came into force on 1 January 2009, though some parts are phased in. NVZs now cover 62 per cent of England.
If you farm in England and want to check whether your fields are in an NVZ, you can do this using the detailed maps that are available on Defra's website.
In Wales
The equivalent regulations in Wales are the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2008 (as amended), which became law on 1 January 2009. The rules that Welsh farmers must comply with are effectively the same as those in England. If you farm in Wales and want to check whether your fields are in an NVZ, maps will be available on the WAG website, or you can see printed versions at the offices of WAG and local authorites. Approimately four per cent of Wales is designated as NVZ..
