SEPA Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs)

Best Management Practices (BMP) guidance; helping to reduce diffuse pollution risk from agricultural activities

Introduction

Diffuse pollution from both rural and urban sources is one of the major causes of poor water quality in Scotland today. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are a series of measures that can be used to reduce the risk of potential pollutants entering the water environment. Employing a range of BMPs can be a low cost method to help to reduce identified risks associated with land use.

What is Diffuse Pollution?

Diffuse pollution arises from a wide range of land use activities, for example runoff from fields and drainage from the built environment. These discrete sources can result in the loss of potential pollutants such as faecal bacteria, nutrients and sediment. Individually these may not have an impact but when considered together across a catchment, can contribute to poor water quality.

Further information on Diffuse Pollution can be found here

Although the BMP guidance is aimed primarily at the agricultural sector, everyone within a catchment has a part to play. Industry, commercial development and recreational pursuits all have the potential to seriously downgrade water quality unless suitably managed.

Improving water quality through Best Management Practices

Pollution risk can be reduced by introducing a series of BMPs which act as control measures, specifically targeted to each pollution source. Pollution can be considered to originate from a source in the landscape, be moved from the source via series of pathways and eventually reach a receptor, such as a loch, pond, stream or river.

SEPA (in partnership with Scottish Executive, CEH, The Macaulay Institute, FWAG, NFUS, Forestry Commission, SAC, and Soil and Water Scotland) has produced the Scottish BMP Guidance to help landowners reduce the risk of diffuse pollution to water. The guidance consists of the BMP Manual (i.e. this Web site), plus two sets of linked documents:

1 - Diffuse Pollution Audit

“Farm scale diffuse pollution audit”, sets out a methodology for carrying out a diffuse pollution audit on farms and includes standard audit forms to aid this process. Carrying out the audit will allow identification of diffuse pollution risks. Click on the links below to view and/or download these documents.

2 - Siting and Suitability Guidance

“Siting and suitability of BMPs” sets out guidance on the selection of suitable mitigation measures from the BMP manual for problems identified in the audit. Click on the link below to view and/or download the Siting and Suitability guidance.

How can BMPs help?

The BMPs and associated guidance suggest a range of techniques that can be used to identify and reduce the risk of diffuse pollution from agricultural activities. They range from making small, low or no cost changes to routine practices, to installation of additional storage or treatment facilities. Not all techniques will be suitable for all situations and some measures may need modification to suit individual circumstances.

Who can benefit from the BMP guidance?

BMP guidance will help those charged with addressing rural diffuse pollution issues in practice. It will prove useful to catchment management planners in priority or problem catchments, to regulators such as Scottish Environment Protection Agency staff and to farmers and farm advisors as they try to comply with a support regime which will increasingly stress environmental protection in compliance with government policy. More information on water quality across Scotland can be found here.

Examples of other work using BMPs

Projects across Scotland are already employing BMP techniques. The links below provide more information.

Further Information

Other information is available to help to reduce diffuse pollution risk. The links below provide more information.

You can email comments or enquiries about the BMP guidance to diffuse.pollution@sepa.org.uk