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Cost-effective measures exist to tackle agricultural pollution and need to be implemented through the WFD, while full compliance with the Nitrates Directive is also required. EU Member States have now established nitrate vulnerable zones one or more action programmes on their territory, with almost all such programmes incorporating the manure nitrogen application threshold of 170 kg/ha/year (EC, 2010). However, implementation of the ND is still incomplete and, even where full compliance has occurred, sufficient improvement in nitrate water quality will take some time because of transport processes in soils and groundwater.