Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NEW-HARMONICA (HARMONISED NUTRIENT LOAD REDUCTION APPROACHES WITHIN SAFE ECOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES IN CATCHMENTS LOCATED IN NW EU)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
In 2015, the ecological status of 75-90% of surface waters in NW Europe was reported to be less than good. Diffuse pollution with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agriculture, together with point sources of N and P pollution from wastewater plants and industry, are a major cause of this failure to achieve good ecological status. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the pollution risk.
Clearly, there is a huge challenge to implement effective mitigation measures to reduce nutrient loadings to air and water to meet desired environmental targets against the background of a changing climate. The synergies and tradeoffs between management actions to mitigate climate change and those to mitigate N and P pollution need to be clarified to develop effective local, regional and national policies. Governance arrangements to implement and monitor the necessary actions need to be better integrated, requiring a consistent and coherent set of environmental indicators.
The overall objective of NEW-HARMONICA is to assess and codevelop a harmonised systemic approach to prioritizing an effective suite of N and P pollution mitigation measures and indicators to meet local to regional environmental targets. To achieve this objective, an experienced NEW-HARMONICA consortium (4 partners from 3 countries) with complementary expertise, skills and networks will work on 4 N and P-polluted cross-border river basins in NW Europe. All partners are involved in an established NW Europe Policy-Science Working Group (PSWG) who together with local catchment stakeholders play a central role in NEW-HARMONICA.
NEW-HARMONICA’s approach is based on a combination of technical assessments, including quantification of N and P flows and load-reduction targets in the study catchments, assessments of governance arrangements, and policy support for the co-development of harmonised environmental policies, based on a strong evidence base and interactions with the PSWG and local stakeholders.
Clearly, there is a huge challenge to implement effective mitigation measures to reduce nutrient loadings to air and water to meet desired environmental targets against the background of a changing climate. The synergies and tradeoffs between management actions to mitigate climate change and those to mitigate N and P pollution need to be clarified to develop effective local, regional and national policies. Governance arrangements to implement and monitor the necessary actions need to be better integrated, requiring a consistent and coherent set of environmental indicators.
The overall objective of NEW-HARMONICA is to assess and codevelop a harmonised systemic approach to prioritizing an effective suite of N and P pollution mitigation measures and indicators to meet local to regional environmental targets. To achieve this objective, an experienced NEW-HARMONICA consortium (4 partners from 3 countries) with complementary expertise, skills and networks will work on 4 N and P-polluted cross-border river basins in NW Europe. All partners are involved in an established NW Europe Policy-Science Working Group (PSWG) who together with local catchment stakeholders play a central role in NEW-HARMONICA.
NEW-HARMONICA’s approach is based on a combination of technical assessments, including quantification of N and P flows and load-reduction targets in the study catchments, assessments of governance arrangements, and policy support for the co-development of harmonised environmental policies, based on a strong evidence base and interactions with the PSWG and local stakeholders.
A NEW HARMONICA Policy Group has been established and is operational.
A catchment report summarising baseline catchment datasets and current water quality status in each catchment highlighted agriculture as the dominant sector causing N and P pollution, but also fundamental differences in N and P pollution pathways, water quality targets and source apportionment methodologies. Monitoring infrastructure to support sector source apportionment and compliance was generally weak.
A combined prototype N and P model was developed and run successfully on the Wye catchment identifying sector N and P use in the food system (excluding industrial use) at catchment scale, providing a template for application to other partner catchments.
A comprehensive longlist of BMP scenarios has been assembled and refined into a shortlist per catchment for further investigation (summarised in Report D3.1)
Shortlisted BMPs for each catchment are being modelled, taking into account likely climate change scenarios.
The project website which was developed and online: https://newharmonica.eu/(opens in new window). The NEW Harmonica project website will be the main source of information about the project to public audiences.
A catchment report summarising baseline catchment datasets and current water quality status in each catchment highlighted agriculture as the dominant sector causing N and P pollution, but also fundamental differences in N and P pollution pathways, water quality targets and source apportionment methodologies. Monitoring infrastructure to support sector source apportionment and compliance was generally weak.
A combined prototype N and P model was developed and run successfully on the Wye catchment identifying sector N and P use in the food system (excluding industrial use) at catchment scale, providing a template for application to other partner catchments.
A comprehensive longlist of BMP scenarios has been assembled and refined into a shortlist per catchment for further investigation (summarised in Report D3.1)
Shortlisted BMPs for each catchment are being modelled, taking into account likely climate change scenarios.
The project website which was developed and online: https://newharmonica.eu/(opens in new window). The NEW Harmonica project website will be the main source of information about the project to public audiences.
No results beyond the state of the arts are yet available