The president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan, has said that farmers want to see all rivers in the high-status categories for improved water quality and they are working hard to achieve this.
The comments follow the publication of a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday (July 14) which indicated that nitrogen (N) levels are too high in almost half of all Irish rivers – and a quarter of Irish groundwaters.
However the IFA has said that the latest figures from the EPA indicate a net improvement in the quality of rivers, and no change or an improvement in N and phosphorus (P) concentrations for 63% and 76% of catchments, respectively.
The EPA said however that many rivers, groundwaters and estuaries in the south, southeast and east of Ireland are under pressure from excess nitrogen from agricultural activities.
Improvements in water quality
Within the priority areas of action, 57 water bodies showed a net improvement, according to the IFA.
“Farmers are working directly with their advisors in these areas to improve water quality and it’s delivering tangible results,” Cullinan said.
“The ASSAP [Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme] programme that assists farmers in their own catchments, must be expanded so we can support more farmers to improve water quality.”
The farm association added that within a European context, Ireland is one of the best for water quality, where only 98% of groundwater bodies are below 50mg/L for nitrates, in contrast to Germany and Spain at 72% and 78.5% respectively.
The IFA argues that Irish surface waters have the lowest concentrations of nitrate and that this is against a backdrop of greater testing frequency in Ireland compared to other EU member states.
The monitoring period reported by the EPA includes the summer drought of 2018.
According to the IFA, this monitoring period is significant, because this prolonged period of dry weather changed the characteristics of the soil which resulted in a high mobilisation of N from the soils to water, when it did rain.
“As farmers, we know we need to keep working hard, but this report shows real signs of progress and is something all stakeholders can build upon,” Cullinan concluded.