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4.3.3        Tackling hydromorphological pressures from agriculture

Agriculture leads to a variety of hydromorphological pressures (Chapter 3.3). Under the WFD, authorities have established controls to avoid further deterioration typically by requiring prior-authorisation (licensing) of land drainage and for building infrastructure such as water storage for irrigation purposes. Fencing of watercourses has also been implemented in livestock areas to prevent morphological deterioration. Restoration action is also required where pressures impact the good status of surface water bodies. For agriculture, much restoration focus on drainage impacts (Vartia et al., 2018).

A variety of other policy initiatives support the restoration of water bodies from agricultural pressures, notably the EU note on Better Environmental Options for Flood risk management (EC, 2011b), the Green Infrastructure Strategy (EC, 2013) and the concept of Natural Water Retention Measures ( Box 4.7). More recently, the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 established a goal to restore the longitudinal connectivity of water bodies by 25000 km, which may affect various irrigation storage infrastructure.

European-wide overview of measures tackling hydromorphological pressures from agriculture is complicated due to lack of data. Evidence exists of countries implementing river restoration measures to remeander river courses, enhance riparian habitat, remove embankments, weirs and barriers (e.g. reservoirs) and reconnect rivers and floodplains. Other measures target agricultural land to promote a landscape-wide restoration of hydrological processes and reduce sediment flow, for example via changes in crop and soil management to reduce erosion.

By removing storage capacity for irrigation water, flood protection and restoring groundwater tables, hydromorphological pressures can impact the productivity of agricultural land. To further enable restoration programs, a comprehensive framework may be needed, such as the planned EU Nature Restoration Plan.