More than two tonnes of slug-killing chemicals have been prevented from polluting Norfolk rivers as a result of an ongoing amnesty, said Anglian Water.

The water company offered farmers in the Wensum and Wissey river catchments a way to safely dispose of metaldehyde slug pellets before a ban is enforced at the end of March 2022.

Although harmless to humans, the chemical is very difficult to remove at water treatment works, making it a significant challenge for water companies to hit tough EU targets for drinking supplies.

Anglian Water was concerned that farmers may choose to use up any remaining stocks before the ban deadline, rather than waste their products or pay for costly disposal.

So the amnesty was arranged as part of the company's Slug it Out campaign - offering free disposal and alternative slug control products to prevent a spike in pollution before the ban.

Rob Holland catchment advisor for Anglian Water, said the initiative has so far replaced 2,345kg of metaldehyde slug pellets with a safer ferric phosphate alternative - most of which was in the Wensum catchment.

As a result, the company says the river water quality in both catchments has not exceeded the one part per billion metaldehyde standard set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).

"This is fantastic news and means that the water treatment process against this difficult-to-treat pesticide has been robust," said Mr Holland.

"Anglian Water wants to thank all of those farmers who withheld from using up stocks of metaldehyde products this autumn and took advantage of the free product exchange amnesty provided by Anglian Water in partnership with the AF Group and Cropco Ltd."

The deadline for outdoor use of metaldehyde products is March 31.

Anglian Water's metaldehyde amnesty is open until the end of January 2022, so farmers working on land in the Wensum and Wissey river catchments can still get in touch with one of the two operators to register quantities, and arrange collection and replacement at no cost.

They can contact CropCo on 01787 238200 or orders@cropco.co.uk, or AF members can contact cropprotection@theafgroup.co.uk or call 01603 881 906.