Welsh Water has extended its registration window for its free and confidential pesticide disposal scheme to protect drinking water quality.
Registration of the new initiative, which encourages farmers to dispose of unwanted herbicides and pesticides, is now open until Friday 18 October.
The confidential PestSmart scheme aims to safeguard drinking water quality before water reaches the treatment works.
It also encourages those within the farming industry to consider ‘smarter’ ways of weed, pest and disease control that do not impact on people, water or wildlife.
Ian Christie, of Welsh Water, said its routine raw water monitoring programme has detected increasing traces of pesticides in areas 'never seen before'.
He said: “While these levels are too low to pose a risk, they are enough to risk breaching rigorous drinking water standards.
“We want to work with farmers, growers and land managers to take action to address this issue together.
“Even the most organised of land managers can find themselves with an out of date or now unlicensed product which can be difficult or expensive to dispose of correctly.
“To help them, we are launching a free ‘no questions asked’ disposal scheme to safely take away any unwanted pesticides and herbicides.
Pesticides form an essential and everyday role in the agricultural community. However, if stored, used or disposed of incorrectly, they can have a 'devastating impact' on people, water and wildlife.
The scheme is available throughout Wales, not just Welsh Water’s operating area.
It is confidential and available for a limited time on a first come, first served basis.
