A network of 25 environmental organisations has called on the Government to come up with an “effective plan” to address Ireland’s “escalating water pollution crisis”.

The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) was responding to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water quality 2016-2021 report, which was published late last week.

The report indicates that nearly half of rivers and lakes and two-thirds of estuaries are not as healthy or resilient as they should be.

An Taisce has described the EPA report as “profoundly alarming” and a “red alert for the state of Irish waters”.

The report states that 46% of surface waters are unhealthy, and estuaries are declining by 16% while coastal waters are declining 10%.

An Taisce natural environment officer Dr Elaine McGoff Photo: via Twitter

Nearly half of Irish rivers (43%), mostly in the south and southeast of the country, are below healthy levels for nitrogen, while nearly a third of rivers (30%) and a third of lakes (33%) are failing for phosphorus concentrations, SWAN notes.

“ Concentrations of nitrogen, in particular, has increased substantially across our rivers, and estuaries, with these declines, clearly coinciding with areas of increased intensive dairy farming,”it notes.

“Our water environment’s depleted state in turn lead to a loss of the wildlife that relies on a healthy water environment, such as our iconic salmon and much-loved kingfisher,” SWAN has said.

“This failure also has a negative impact on our own health: pollution regularly contaminates the water we source for drinking and that we swim in; while the waterscapes that have been so important for our wellbeing in the past three years are being allowed to languish and decline,”it says.

“The three-yearly EPA water quality report acts as a rigorous assessment of the government water management strategy,”SWAN says.

“The data published today clearly shows that this has failed to address the damaging impacts of agriculture, waste water, forestry, unregulated land drainage and river alterations. It therefore serves as both evidence and alarm-call that a change of approach is urgently needed,” it says.

SWAN says the government has a “golden opportunity” to fix this now, as it is currently finalising the 2022-2027 River Basin Management Plan.

“This is required under the EU Water Framework Directive to lay out how we will restore our inland and coastal waters to a healthy state by the mandatory deadline of 2027,”SWAN says.

“However, the plan in its draft form is much too weak, and is completely lacking in the ambition and targeted actions needed to tackle pollution,”it says.

An Taisce says agricultural activity, inadequate wastewater treatment, forestry processes, and activities such as land drainage and river alterations are the main causes of water quality decline.

“Concentrations of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are far too high in many of our water bodies,” it says.

“Nearly a third of rivers and lakes have elevated phosphorus concentrations, and an alarming 39% of river sites had increasing concentrations of nitrogen,”it says, noting nitrogen pollution is most prevalent in the south and south-east due to the high levels of intensive farming on freely draining soils.

“While there have been some improvements in certain areas on foot of community or individual action, individuals alone cannot solve the water quality crisis,”An Taisce says.

“ Governments must stand up and be counted, it simply isn’t possible for individuals to solve this crisis without robust government support. Urgent and transformative steps are now necessary to stem the tide of water pollution,”it says.

An Taisce natural environment officer Dr Elaine McGoff said that water protection measures “have failed time and time again”.

“The Government has long been aware that many of their policies for agricultural expansion, forestry planting and clearfelling, and land drainage are at odds with their stated ambition to improve water quality,” she says.

“This is compounded by their failure to adequately address the shambles that is our water treatment infrastructure,” she adds.

“It’s time for a different approach - an honest approach,” Dr McGoff says.

“We cannot keep doing the same thing and acting surprised when we get the same result. The Government now has an opportunity to take a different approach in drafting their new River Basin Management Plan which could, and should chart a way towards healthier waterways,” she says.

“This Government has demonstrated time and again where their priorities lie, and it’s not with the environment,” Dr McGoff says.

“ Will they once again plan to fail to protect water quality, and capitulate to the demands of agribusiness, the forest industry and other vested interests, or will they step up and protect water quality for the common good?” she asks.

Inland Fisheries Ireland has issued an appeal to farmers to remain vigilant during the fertiliser spreading season to avoid water pollution and the loss of nutrients or other chemicals into rivers, lakes and other watercourses. 

The appeal comes on the back of Inland Fisheries Ireland’s preliminary collation of fish kill data for 2019 which indicate that 20 fish kills were recorded nationally (a welcome reduction when compared with 40 fish kills in 2018). Inland Fisheries Ireland is also emphasising the significance of the EPA’s recent report on water quality in Ireland (for the period 2013 to 2018) which found that there has been an overall decline in surface water quality, especially in our rivers, for the period. This report identified nutrient pollution (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus) as the main problem impacting on our waters. 

To prevent waters from being polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus when land-spreading, Inland Fisheries Ireland is advising farmers to refer to Good Agricultural Practice Regulations guidance (www.agriculture.gov.ie) which advises as follows:

• Spread livestock manure and other organic fertilisers, effluents and soiled water as accurately and as evenly as possible.
• Do not use an upward-facing splash plate or sludge irrigator on a tanker or umbilical system for spreading organic fertiliser or soiled water.
• Do not spread organic fertilisers or soiled water from a road or passageway, even if the road or passageway is on your own holding.
• Do not spread chemical fertilisers, livestock manure, soiled water or other organic fertilisers when:
• The land is waterlogged;
• The land is flooded, or it is likely to flood;
• The land is frozen, or covered with snow;
• Heavy rain is forecast within 48 hours (you must check the forecasts from Met Éireann).
• Do not spread chemical fertilisers, livestock manure, soiled water or other organic fertilisers if the ground has a steep slope and if there is a significant risk of causing pollution.
• When you are deciding whether there is a risk, you must take into account how close you are to waters, what condition the soil is in, the ground cover and how much rainfall there is or how much rainfall is expected.
• Do not spread chemical fertiliser on land within 1.5 metres of a surface watercourse.

Farmers can get more information about these specifications or related buffer zones for spreading organic fertilisers from their adviser/consultant, the local Department office or on the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine’s website http://www.agriculture.gov.ie.

Dr Greg Forde, Head of Operations at Inland Fisheries Ireland, said: “Livestock manure and other organic fertilisers, effluents and soiled water have the potential to cause devastating pollution in our streams and rivers. Such effluent is a significant polluting and potentially highly toxic substance, starving fish and other aquatic life of oxygen and resulting in potentially severe fish kills over long distances if it enters a watercourse. Impacts can be devastating at any time of year but are magnified in particular when river flows are reduced and dilution capacity is at a minimum. The effect of even a small leak under these conditions can cause huge damage. Inland Fisheries Ireland is grateful to the farming community for their continued consideration and vigilance. Good farmyard management and land-spreading practices (for example avoiding spreading during the season at times of low nutrient uptake because of slow growth) can help to prevent accidental discharges of polluting substances and protect the local environment. This will have a significant and lasting positive impact on valuable wild fish populations in an area.”

Inland Fisheries Ireland is the state agency responsible for the protection, management and conservation of Ireland's inland fisheries and sea angling resources. IFI focuses on a wide range of environmental pressures which can impact the fisheries resource, with over 25,000 environmental inspections carried out in 2019 across industrial, forestry, engineering / infrastructural and municipal sites. There were 1,623 inspections in agricultural settings to help identify environmental risks and prevent damage to the local aquatic environment and valuable fish populations.