Editing Nitrate vulnerable zone (section)

== Locations ==
[[File:Descobreix Penedès, Torrelles de Foix.jpg|thumb|Farm in Europe.]]Nitrate vulnerable zones were introduced by the [[United Kingdom]] government in response to the [[European Union]] mandate that all countries in the EU must reduce the nitrate in drinking water to a maximum of 50 NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> mg/L to protect public health and environmental health.<ref name=":0" />

=== United Kingdom ===
The [[United Kingdom]] identifies nitrate vulnerable zones as discrete zones in specific agricultural regions. There are at least 70 nitrate vulnerable zones in England and several in Wales, covering 600,000 [[hectare]]s of [[surface water]] and [[Groundwater|ground water]].<ref name=":0" /> 

==== Wales ====
The Welsh Government introduced an all Wales NVZ in 2021, previously, 2.4% of Wales' land was designated as a NVZ. Environmental and fishing groups welcomed the new rules. It will be rolled out, pending a review by the [[Senedd]], over the next three years. The review came after major political backlash from opposition parties and farmers.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-06-09|title=River pollution Wales: Farmers face 'six-figure sum' to comply|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-57417359|access-date=2021-06-10}}</ref>

=== Northern Europe ===
[[Belgium]], [[Germany]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Denmark]] have established their entire nations as nitrate vulnerable zones. These countries take a broader approach to designating nation-wide nitrate vulnerable zones because of the quality of the groundwater<ref>{{cite journal|last=Arauzo|first=M|date=2017|title=Vulnerability of groundwater resources to nitrate pollution: A simple and effective procedure for delimiting Nitrate Vulnerable Zones|journal=The Science of the Total Environment|volume=575|pages=799–812|bibcode=2017ScTEn.575..799A|doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.139|pmid=27707576|hdl=10261/205492|hdl-access=free}}</ref> as well as marine [[eutrophication]].<ref name=":0" />