Background

The Nitrates Directive (ND) is an EU anti-pollution legislative that, for almost 30 years, has controlled and protected hydro-resources against excessive levels of nitrates originating from agroecosystems, striving to prevent the further exacerbation of the nitrates in aquatic environments. ND sets several principal goals that member states must accomplish, such as performing spatiotemporal nitrate analyses in ground/surface water networks to achieve national water quality monitoring programme.

Results

In this study, using the novel LUMNAqSoP approach, the prioritisation of 151 candidate groundwater stations for ND monitoring in Croatia was performed. The LUMNAqSoP integratively evaluates: (i) the most dominant loads from the agroecosystem (land use and management, net nitrogen application) and (ii) environmental (aquifer and soil) vulnerabilities and sensitivities of groundwater resources to nitrate pollution. By comparing stations which scored the most agro-environmental loads vs. the data from water stations containing elevated mean nitrate concentrations (from existing monitoring programmes) a very good agreement was confirmed. Moreover, deviations close to large urban zones were detected, suggesting that elevated nitrates in groundwaters in those areas likely originated from municipal/industrial rather than agricultural sources; however, further studies are needed for elucidation.

Conclusions

The presented approach can serve as a useful tool to policy makers and regulators for: (i) more efficient and reliable establishment of water monitoring programme pursuant to ND, as well as (ii) better management and shaping (designating/derogating) of nitrate-vulnerable zones, especially in diverse environmental conditions and dynamic agroecosystems as have been confirmed in recent decades across the EU member states.

中文翻译：

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一种新颖的LUMNAqSoP方法，用于优先执行《硝酸盐指令》的地下水监测站

背景

《硝酸盐指令》（ND）是欧盟的一项反污染立法，近30年来，它一直在控制和保护水资源，使其免受来自农业生态系统的硝酸盐含量过高的影响，努力防止水生环境中硝酸盐的进一步恶化。ND制定了成员国必须完成的几个主要目标，例如在地下水/地表水网络中进行时空硝酸盐分析，以实现国家水质监测计划。

结果

在这项研究中，使用新颖的LUMNAqSoP方法，对克罗地亚151个用于ND监测的候选地下水站进行了优先排序。LUMNAqSoP综合评估：（i）农业生态系统（土地使用和管理，净氮肥施用）中最主要的负荷，以及（ii）地下水资源（对含水层和土壤）的环境脆弱性和对硝酸盐污染的敏感性。通过比较得分最高的农业环境负荷的站点与平均硝酸盐浓度较高的水站点的数据（来自现有监测程序），可以很好地达成一致。此外，发现靠近大城市地区的偏差，表明这些地区地下水中硝酸盐含量的升高可能源自市政/工业而不是农业来源；然而，

结论

所提出的方法可以为决策者和监管者提供有用的工具，以：（i）根据ND更有效，更可靠地建立水监测计划，以及（ii）更好地管理和塑造（指定/贬损）硝酸盐-脆弱的地区，尤其是在各种环境条件和动态农业生态系统中，最近几十年来在欧盟成员国中得到证实。