Baseline Survey for an Assessment of the Nitrate Problematic in Divjaka Region of Albania

The Republic of Albania is an official candidate for EU membership since 2014, whereas for the accession to the EU the whole EU legislation has to be implemented into Albanian law. Thus, the limit value of the nitrate concentration in groundwater is defined with 50 mg/l according to the EU Groundwater Directive. However, in a definite region in Albania that is called Divjaka area it is assumed that this limit value is exceeded due to intensive agricultural land use, whereas no measurements are currently available. Therefore, simulation results of the nitrogen discharge model EPIC are presented, including the annual nitrogen leaching and the nitrate concentration in percolation water. As the latter exceeded the limit value, the findings at least indicate the necessity to monitor groundwater quality as basis for further studies and potential measures to avoid pollution.