Irish water quality continues to decline, reports EPA
The South-East, Midlands, and Eastern regions of the country have been flagged by the EPA for elevated nitrate concentration levels.
Agriculture has been listed as one of the main issues affecting the quality of Ireland's rivers and lakes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Following the publication of the ‘Water Quality in Ireland Report 2019-2024’, the EPA found that just over half (52%) of surface waters are in a satisfactory ecological condition, a deterioration from the last assessment, 2016-2021 report, where 54% of water bodies met their water quality objectives.
The EPA report that excess nutrients from agriculture, urban wastewater and other human activities remain the biggest challenges, followed by changes made to physical habitats to Ireland’s water quality.
The report shows that there have been water quality improvements in areas where actions to reduce nutrient levels have been taken, which the EPA says is a welcome improvement; however, they call for increased scale and pace of the implementation of these practices.
EPA Programme Manager, Dr Jenny Deakin, said: “The decreases in phosphorus levels in areas prioritised for action are very welcome. While further reductions will be needed as well as a reduction in nitrate levels, this report shines a light on the progress that can be made when actions are targeted. It is essential that better information is collected by all stakeholders, on when and where the actions are being implemented on the ground, to provide better information on how the progress can be accelerated.”
The EPA have said that at current progress levels, Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to ‘good’ or ‘better’ status by 2027.
The EPA have highlighted that the South-East, Midlands, and Eastern regions of the country have the greatest proportion of monitoring locations with elevated nitrate concentration levels.
In the report, it is said that the Midlands and Eastern regions are where nitrate concentrations have increased the most since 2019. The EPA have attributed this increase to the impact of nutrient losses from agricultural sources.
The creation of Priority Areas for Action (PAAs), where public sector bodies and stakeholders were collaborating to restore water quality, led by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO).
Where agriculture was a significant pressure, LAWPRO provided a dedicated Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) to advise and work alongside farmers to improve water quality in priority areas.
Following the establishment of LAWPRO and ASSAP in 2018, phosphate pressure in PAAs has reduced, with levels on average 22% lower inside PAAs (2019-2024).
The report states that nitrogen levels, particularly in the South and South-East of the country, remain too high to achieve water quality objectives. The Agency has called for measures to reduce nitrogen losses to water should be targeted at higher-risk, freely draining agricultural areas.
The EPA have called for the Department of Agriculture and Local Authorities to deliver reductions under the Nitrates Action Programme, calling for the need for full implementation of existing regulations. The EPA also said that it will continue to oversee the National Agricultural Inspection Programme (NAIP).
Commenting on the report, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment, Dr Eimear Cotter, said: “Our rivers, lakes and estuaries are the lifeblood of our landscape and support our ecosystems, and our health and wellbeing. But they are struggling. They do not have the resilience to cope with the challenges they face, now and in the future. Surface water quality overall has been in decline since before the first of these assessments was carried out by the EPA in the late 2000s.
It is very disappointing to report that water quality is not improving despite the many actions that are underway, across all sectors. It’s clear the scale and pace of implementation needs to be increased and sustained.”
Efforts continue in Ireland to maintain the derogation, which requires improvement in water quality.
Head of Advocacy with An Taisce, Dr Elaine McGoff, said: “Despite all the rhetoric about saving our nitrates derogation and turning the tide on water quality in Ireland, there is still no evidence of the necessary improvement across the board in our waters."
Irish Farmers Association (IFA) President Francie Gorman said: “Today’s report shows that about half of our water bodies are good or high status, similar to the last comparable report completed in 2022. While the report as a whole points to a stable or slight decline in water quality, there are also clear signs that the work undertaken by farmers, particularly on nitrates, is starting to take effect.”
The IFA President also highlighted that the report reaffirms the positive work being done with programmes such as ASSAP and Farming for Water EIP, delivering on improvements in water quality.
Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) said that the report clearly highlights the improvement of water quality in priority areas of concern and the overall reduction in nutrient concentrations.
The President of ICOS, Edward Carr said: “I firmly believe that the engagement and work being done by farmers and their co-ops on water quality will deliver the improvement we all want to see. As a sector, we have supported the extension of the ASSAP programme to over 50 water quality specialists working on a day-to-day basis with farmers, of which 30 are directly employed by co-ops. This has resulted in over 3,000 water quality visits by Co-op ASSAP teams in 2024.”
“The issue of water quality is front and centre for the farming sector, with the co-ops actively raising awareness of water quality issues through multiple farmer events, targeted support through co-op sustainability programmes, the Farming for Water EIP and the development of co-ordinated catchment level approaches such as the Blackwater and Slaney Catchment Programmes,” concluded Mr Carr.
