Troubled Waters: Investigating How Intensive Agriculture Pollutes our Waters
Follow an investigation into the pollution of European water sources - both freshwater and groundwater - by agriculture, focusing on pollutants such as pesticides and nitrates.
With Jelena Prtoric
Across the European Union, around 60% of surface waters are in poor chemical and ecological condition. Many scientists and environmentalists point out that we probably underestimate the levels of water pollution due to insufficient data and current methods of testing. Agriculture has a great impact on water bodies. Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a system of lavish subsidies that suck up one-third of the EU’s overall budget has, by supporting intensive agriculture, fueled the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. This has had harmful consequences on aquatic environments across the continent. It also means that EU taxpayers are de facto subsidising both the pollution and the cleaning of their waters. The investigation “Troubled Waters”, which included a collaboration between journalist Jelena Prtoric and freedom of information activist Luisa Izuzquiza, looked into the pollution of European water sources - both freshwater and groundwater - by agriculture, focusing on pollutants such as pesticides and nitrates.
In this talk, Jelena Prtoric will speak about how the investigation unfolded and about its findings. She will discuss the challenges of navigating a complex interplay of different EU legislations that regulate water protection, and provide an overview of the data available for such research. You will also get an insight into the research methodologies used (i.e. working with scientific sources or right-to-information requests), and explore the challenges and pitfalls that come with such cross-border and cross-disciplinary work. And, because the troubles with water never end, you will get to explore potential stories and topics left to investigate.
About the speaker
Jelena Prtoric is a freelance journalist from Croatia and currently based in Berlin, Germany. She is working in English, French, and Croatian and her topics of interest include the environment/climate, migration, press freedom, and women’s rights. As of 2020, she has been working with the Arena for Journalism in Europe, where she first set up and coordinated the Arena Climate Network. She is now the director of Dataharvest - the European Investigative Journalism conference, and editor with the Arena Climate Network. When she is not doing journalism, she translates graphic novels, and dabbles in podcasting production (do contact her if you want to work on a podcast together!)
About Us
Tactical Tech is an international non-profit organisation that engages with citizens and civil-society organisations to explore and mitigate the impacts of technology on society. Exposing the Invisible is a Tactical Tech project that develops resources, training and collaborations promoting investigation as one of the most important forms of public engagement.
This event is part of the CIJI project co-funded by the European Union.
Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.