Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will appear at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine tomorrow (Wednesday, July 19).
The EPA’s recently published Water Quality Monitoring Report on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations in Irish waters 2022 will be discussed at the meeting from 12:00p.m.
In its report, the EPA identified the areas where farms will likely have to reduce their application rate of organic manure nitrogen from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha from 2024.
The review of Ireland’s water quality was required by the European Commission under the Nitrates Directive. Ireland’s current Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) concludes in 2025.
The committee previously raised concerns around the methodology used by the EPA in compiling the report, Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Jackie Cahill said ahead of the meeting.
“We were particularly concerned that the EPA has used a more severe method in determining deterioration in water quality than that used in other EU members states and by the EU Commission.
“We now look forward to discussing the compilation of this report and the methodologies the EPA has used in this report, because it is going to be critical in our battle to secure our derogation,” he said.
EPA report
The results of the commission’s water quality review criteria showed that over 44,000km of land requires additional measures as part of the conditions of Ireland’s derogation, the EPA said.
There has been no significant improvement in the water quality of rivers and lakes which is largely attributable to excess nitrogen and phosphorous, another EPA report found.
Nitrate concentrations are too high in 40% of river sites and in 20% of estuarine and coastal water bodies, which are found mainly in the south and southeast of the country.
There is no indication that nitrate levels are reducing, the report states. In addition, phosphorus levels are too high in 28% of rivers and 36% of lakes which impacts on their biological quality.
Representatives from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) will attend the second session of the meeting from 1:30p.m in committee room three, which can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.