Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports of the contamination of land on two dairy farms in Cumbria after the application of liquid fertiliser, what assessment they have made of the frequency of such incidences of contamination; and what plans they have to take regulatory action to prevent further such contaminations.

An Environment Agency (EA) investigation into the matter is currently ongoing and has included analysis of water samples. Enquiries remain ongoing on what appears to be a localised incident involving a specific liquid that was used as a fertiliser. From the information that was reported in January 2021, it is the EA’s understanding that the last known application of the fertiliser was in March 2019.