An Taisce has called for urgent action to protect Ireland’s water from nitrates like slurry and fertilisers with almost half our rivers and lakes already polluted.
As part of the European Union we must meet regulations contained within its Nitrates Directive to improve water quality through protections against pollution from agricultural sources.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, is poised to sign off the new Nitrates Action Programme for 2022-2025.
But An Taisce says the protective measures don’t go far enough.
The conservation charity has repeatedly raised serious concerns around the “inadequacy” of public drafts and legal weaknesses in the environmental assessments.
It is calling on the government to urgently strengthen the measures proposed in the latest NAP and not to seek another Nitrates Derogation from the European Commission until sufficient safeguards are in place to protect Irish water.
Natural Environment Officer with An Taisce, Dr Elaine McGoff, said: “Ireland is facing a water quality crisis, with almost half of our rivers and lakes polluted.
“Agricultural intensification, particularly dairy intensification, is the primary driver of that. Ambitious and far reaching changes are required to address this.”
Dr McGoff says the changes farmers are again being asked to make in the next four years “will fall short when it comes to protecting water quality” and that it will be a loss for farms as well as the country’s “rivers, lakes and coastal waters”.
“The Nitrates Action Programme is the lynchpin for protecting our water quality in Ireland,” she added.
“We are in a water quality crisis, but the measures proposed are wholly inadequate to address this crisis.
“We know from the Environmental Protection Agency what needs to happen, and where. We know from Teagasc how these reductions could be brought about.
“The missing piece is the actions to achieve that, and that’s what we’re urgently calling for to be included.”
