Why are Mr George MS and Mr Williams MP so exercised about Wales being declared a Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone (NVZ).

The NVZ legislation is to make farmers think about how and when they spread slurry, farm manure and Intensive Poultry Unit waste on the land.

It’s aim is to reduce the amount of nitrates that are washed off the land and into the streams and rivers of Wales and keep it on the land to promote the crop growth the farmers want to feed their animals with.

Are nitrates a bad thing? Yes, and in many ways.

The nitrate promotes the growth of algae in the water, that green slimy stuff we see in the water, the algae uses up the all the oxygen in the water and effectively strangles everything else that lives in the water.

The clear, sparkling, tumbling waterfalls, streams, rivers and lakes we have in Wales are part of the natural beauty that brings tourists to Wales, an industry that supports twice as many jobs as farming in Wales. Tourists that stay in farmhouse B&Bs, hotels, pubs, eat in the cafes and from the chip shops.

But the nastiness of nitrates doesn’t stop with poisoning the life in the rivers, it is a danger to humans as well. When the water slows in the ponds, lakes, reservoirs and canals a blue/green algae develops, poisonous to you, me, children and dogs if we come into contact with it.

The poisonous nitrates then have to be removed from the water to make it safe to drink, Dwr Cymru and Hafren Dfrydwy spend millions of pounds each year removing nitrates from the water so it is safe for us to drink, money that is part of your water bill.

Without the rules of the NVZ the farmers are losing out because the fertilizer they are spreading is going to waste in the rivers, nature is losing out by being killed by the nitrates and you and I are losing out because we are paying to have nitrates removed from our drinking water.

Paul Wixey

Llanfair Caereinion