BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

Within the last decade in Denmark focus has been put on the increasing
discharges from agriculture which has caused an increase in nitrate content in
groundwater, increasing production of algae in lakes and marine areas leading
to oxygen lag and fish mortality.
So in order to reverse this development the Danish Parliament has adopted a
number of measures to control discharge of nutrients.
The IWO Action Plan.
An NPO Action plan was adopted in 1985 especially directed against nitrogen
discharges caused by use of animal manure. At the same time a considerable
number of studies were implemented into a Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Qrganic
matter (NPO) research Programme in order to improve the understanding of the
interrelationship between use of fertilizer and the effects on the aquatic
environment.
In the IWO Action plan there was a demand for regulation concerning:
_ Placing and construction of stables and storage facilities for farm yard
manure (it should no longer be allowed to store manure on bare ground)
_ Storage capacity for farm yard manure (6 month was required)
A grant scheme for the construction of storage capacity.
Use of farm yard manure (a limit was set for how much manure that
could be spread per hectare - approx. 200 kg of nitrogen per hectare).
A ban on straw burning.
These initiatives were implemented in statutory orders by the Ministry of the
Environment in 1986 and a lot of people thought, that now sufficient measures
had been taken in order to reduce nitrogen pollution from agriculture.
But in autumn 1986 new incidents of oxygen lag and fish mortality were
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