How EU policies could reduce nutrient pollution in European inland and coastal waters.

ABSTRACT: Intensive agriculture and densely populated areas represent major sources of nutrient pollution for European inland and coastal waters, altering the aquatic ecosystems and affecting their capacity to provide ecosystem services and support economic activities. Ambitious water policies are in place in the European Union (EU) for protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems under the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. This research quantified the current pressures of point and diffuse nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to European fresh and coastal waters (2005-2012), and analysed the effects of three policy scenarios of nutrient reduction: 1) the application of measures currently planned in the Rural Development Programmes and under the Urban Waste Water Tre

SUBMITTER: Grizzetti B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8386246 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature