After Germany and Belgium, the European Commission has now also ordered Italy to come up with additional plans within two months to reduce the nitrate levels in surface waters. Nitrate pollution in rivers, streams, and ditches is also too high in Italy by European standards.
If Italy does not respond adequately, it risks a hefty fine that can amount to 850,000 euros per day. The European Commission accuses Italy of doing too little to limit nitrate pollution in the groundwater.
Germany and Belgium have recently submitted additional reports to the EU but are still far from being out of the danger zone, according to an EU interim report.
For years, the European Union has been trying to increase pressure on member states to better protect the quality of groundwater. Pollution also threatens European drinking water. Agriculture is seen as a major source of nitrate pollution.
If EU countries do not do enough to reduce fertilizers in groundwater, the European Commission may decide to bring the case before the court again, which can impose heavy fines.
Germany is currently tightening its fertilizer policies, but with insufficient results so far. Furthermore, the tightening faces much resistance within German agriculture. This opposition complicates political decision-making. Especially in the northern federal states, where relatively intensive livestock farming takes place, the soil contains too much nitrate.
In the Netherlands, the groundwater also does not yet meet all EU criteria, as new research has shown. There was too much nitrogen and phosphate in three-quarters of the water samples taken by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Only 3 percent of the waters were found to be clean and 87 percent of poor quality.
Only one in five small waters in the Netherlands is clear, rich in plants, and full of life. More than half of the measured waters are turbid and covered by duckweed or algae, while a quarter show signs of pollution.
Small waters together make up a third of the surface water in the Netherlands, but they are excluded from quality measurements for the Water Framework Directive, which aims for water throughout Europe to be clean by 2027.