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6. CONSTRUCTED FARM WETLANDS
The storage of slurry on farms is governed by the Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil (Scotland) Regulations 2003 ( SSAFO), which require that run-off from farm steadings, if contaminated by animal excreta, must be collected and stored in line with the requirements for slurry. The effect of this provision is that livestock farmers are required to have and to use valuable slurry storage capacity for substantial volumes of lightly contaminated water. As a result, farmers may then find that their storage capacity is inadequate and come under pressure to spread slurry when conditions are less than suitable. This "dirty water" has to be transported or pumped, which involves costs in time and fuel. A better environmental option in many cases will be constructed farm wetlands ( CFWs), to which lightly contaminated water may be drained.
The consultation is proposing a relaxation of the SSAFO Regulations through an amendment to allow 'dirty water' run-off from some areas of the farm steading to be drained and treated through a constructed farm wetland ( CFW). This may also include water running off a silage pit after the end of October, though not effluent that has already entered a silage effluent tank.
SEPA is preparing advice on the design specification for CFWs. CFWs must be constructed; that is, they may not be made by damming an existing watercourse or wetland. They must be a treatment facility, which means that they are not in legal terms part of "the water environment". Water draining from the CFWs would then enter the water environment. These CFWs would be required to perform a treatment function to ensure that the water discharging from them to the water environment would not result in a deterioration of the status of the receiving watercourse.
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