A pilot project encouraging farmers to reduce pesticide pollution is to be used as a blueprint by the government to improve the quality of rivers and watercourses.

Lessons learned from the Water Catchment Protection Project – which helped farmers reduce pesticide residues in six pilot areas of England and Scotland – will be used to support UK measures for implementing the EU Water Framework Directive.

The project is part of the industry-backed Voluntary Initiative aimed at staving off the threat of a pesticide tax. DEFRA is already incorporating lessons from the project into the England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative.

Pesticide residues were reduced by as much as 98% after innovative ploys such as text messages encouraged farmers to introduce measures such as lower dose rates, reminded them of application cut-off dates and provided weather forecasts.

Bob Breach, spokesman for Water UK, which represents the water industry, said: “The pilot project had pointed the way towards the improved protection of rivers and watercourses from pesticides.

“We now have a much better understanding of ways that pesticides can be used without impacting on water, but these have to be adopted consistently by all farmers and adjusted as necessary to take account of weather and soil conditions.”