Assessing the cost-effectiveness of integrated measures to decrease loss of nitrate, phosphorus and faecal indicator organisms

The timetable for implementation of the Water Framework Directive requires best available information to be synthesised now. Cost-effectiveness is an important consideration when deciding what actions should be taken to control diffuse pollution losses from agriculture. This paper presents preliminary results from a toolkit for assessing the cost-effectiveness of combinations of mitigation methods invoked by a range of policy options. It is a mix of simplifi ed diffuse pollution models (to determine baseline losses of nitrate, phosphorus and faecal indicator organisms), best available information on cost-effectiveness drawn from other projects and, using these building blocks, a cost-curve approach. The approach relies on expert judgement.