Unregistered water extractions under scrutiny in farm inspections

Farm inspectors are checking if water is being taken from private wells, boreholes, rivers, or lakes.

The EPA register for water abstractions has been in place since December 2023.

DAFM officials are enforcing the requirement for water extraction to be registered with the EPA, with at least one farmer sanctioned, despite bringing his case to the Agriculture Appeals Office in 2024.

The EPA register for water abstractions has been in place since December 2023.

As a result, farm inspectors check if water is being taken from private wells, boreholes, rivers, or lakes. They estimate the maximum daily water requirement for the farm, and compare it with the 25 cubic metres (5,500 gallons) of water per day, above which a farmer is required to register their extraction of water with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Last year, an unnamed farmer appealed his or her sanction imposed after the Department identified that the volume of water being extracted from a well on the holding exceeded the 25 cubic metres per day threshold, and that the well had not been registered with the EPA.

The farmer submitted an appeal on the grounds of not receiving a copy of the 2023 BISS Handbook for Conditionality Requirements, in which the requirement to register wells was first included.

The appellant said he was unaware of the requirement, and that there is a total lack of knowledge of this requirement among the farming community, which is reflected in the very small number of well registrations.

The well was the only deficiency found in a full conditionality inspection of the farm.

The farmer said the introduction of the BISS, and other new schemes in 2023, involved significant changes, and this minor requirement was overlooked.

However, the Appeals Officer said the BISS Terms and Conditions must be read, in conjunction with the Handbook for Conditionality Requirements, and the controls over abstraction of fresh surface water and groundwater, and the requirement to register such wells are clearly set out. "On that basis, there are no grounds for overturning the decision of the Department", said the officer.

With the disallowance of the appeal, it was noted that a lack of awareness of a requirement does not excuse a person from responsibility for failure to implement that requirement.

The Agriculture Appeals Office, which the farmer availed of, offers a fair and efficient appeals service to participants in schemes administered by the DAFM, who were unsuccessful in the internal review of Department decisions they were unhappy with.

In 2024, the SCEP was the scheme giving rise to most appeals, which numbered 104, compared to 67 appeals of BISS decisions.

In 2024, the number of appeals received by the Office was 483, down from 624 in 2023, and down 23% compared to the ten-year average of 630.

According to the DAFM, many factors may account for this decrease, including the BISS application system, which allows for early identification of errors in online applications, and a grace period for the correction of such errors.

There were also 441 open appeals carried over from previous years, and 30 appeals were carried over into 2025.

The average time taken to close an appeal in 2024 was 73 days, and 43% of appeals were allowed, partially allowed, or revised.