Metaldehyde policy position

Water UK considers that reducing the overall amount of slug pellets containing metaldehyde applied to land will be the most beneficial way of significantly reducing the risk of treated water metaldehyde exceedances.

Water UK recognises that voluntary mechanisms delivered through local collaboration and detailed discussions between water companies, regulators and the agricultural community have been successful at small scale in some catchments, but believes that scaling this activity
up to large river catchments is unlikely to be practicable or effective. Water UK therefore believes that the most cost-effective way of ensuring that non-metaldehyde slug-control techniques are used in high risk areas is via the use of targeted regulatory mechanisms.