The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee will take evidence in person tomorrow from senior officials at Ofwat, Environment Agency and RAPID as part of its current inquiry into the efficient use and management of reactive nitrogen in water and agriculture.

Nitrogen pollution has significant public health and environmental impacts: on water quality, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystem health and biodiversity, and soil quality.

The significant losses of nitrogen to air and water from agriculture, industry, wastewater, and transport also constitute a wasted resource. The UK has a range of targets relating to diverse aspects of nitrogen pollution, but many are reported to be off track in the Office for Environmental Protection’s latest progress report. Policy on nitrogen to date has focused on particular impacts within separate sectors.

The inquiry is seeking to understand how excess reactive nitrogen could be captured and re-used and potential solutions for reducing nitrogen pollution, highlighting opportunities and challenges across sectors. It will also consider the coordination of Government policy on nitrogen across departments and how Government could take a more holistic, strategic approach to nitrogen management. The committee’s focus is on England, as most relevant matters are devolved in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.It will also seek to identify the gaps in current policy and the effectiveness of regulation in addressing nitrogen pollution.

Key questions the inquiry is addressing include:

General

• What are the main sources of nitrogen pollution in the UK? How and why have these changed over time?
• How could nitrogen pollution be mitigated from relevant sectors, how effective are these approaches, and are there any trade-offs?
• What solutions and technologies are available to increase nitrogen reuse and recycling, including in agriculture, waste, wastewater, industry, and transport sectors?
• What future developments could further increase nitrogen pollution, and how could those risks be reduced?

Impacts

• What are the ecological impacts of nitrogen pollution in the UK and what implications do these have for national environmental and net zero targets?
• What are the public health impacts of nitrogen pollution and how are these accounted for in current government plans and targets?
• What are the economic impacts of nitrogen pollution and current nitrogen-mitigation policies, for the public, farmers and other stakeholders?

Government policy and regulation

• How effective is existing policy at regulating and reducing nitrogen pollution? How could they be improved? Are there gaps?
• How effective is monitoring and enforcement of nitrogen-related regulations?
• Does current policy incentivise the capture and reuse of ‘waste’ nitrogen and, if not, what policy changes could support greater reuse of nitrogen?
• What are the pros and cons of taking a more holistic approach to nitrogen management in policy, and what opportunities to do so exist?

The session will start at 10am and members of the Committee will hear from the following:

• Helen Wakeham, Director for Water, Environment Agency;
• Jennie Donovan, Co-Director for Nature & Place, Environment Agency;
• Paul Hickey, Managing Director of RAPID, Ofwat;
• Chris Walters, Senior Director for the Price Review, Ofwat.

The evidence session can be watched live or afterward on Parliament TV - click here to access the inquiry online