Farmers taking water from rivers face tough regulations

By Lynne Kelleher

Farmers taking swimming pool-size volumes of water from rivers are set to be slapped with regulations under new laws next month.

It follows one of the warmest and driest summers on record with absolute drought conditions logged in many parts of the country in June and July.

One desperate Kilkenny farmer and his son had to pump water from the River Nore to give their animals drinking water after wells ran dry, RTÉ’s Ear to the Ground programme tonight shows.

But environmental legal expert, Brendan Slattery, said licences will soon be needed to take water from the nation’s rivers. “By the middle of November, we will have a database maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Every person who is taking more than 25 cubic metres per day of water from a river will be registered on a database”, he said. “Twenty-five cubic metres is about the equivalent of enough water for 100 households or for 200 cows,” he said.

The new laws come in under EU regulations next month, with even tougher curbs on those taking more than 1,000 cubic metres. “For the very biggest users, they will require some kind of a complex authorisation which will pause and think about issues like environmental and habitats assessment”, Mr Slattery said.

But Kilkenny farmers Gerry and James Nolan said their wells literally ran dry last July, with no drinking water for 185 cows who need 6,600 gallons of water daily. They drew three loads a day from the River Nore: “It was mayhem, we had to find water somewhere. We were lucky the river was there,” said James.

Meanwhile, Ear to the Ground, also tonight, reveals farmers can no longer afford to fatten beef cattle due to an unprecedented shortage of grass. The crisis is laid bare in the programme as farmers tell how they faced a perfect storm of summer drought and a severe winter which drastically affected growth.

Ireland is the largest beef exporter in the northern hemisphere, but its 77,000 cattle farmers are struggling to make a living out of the €3bn industry.

UCC economist Prof Thia Hennessy said it is now costing farmers money to rear beef cattle: “What we see at the farm level, the costs of producing beef cattle is exceeding the price they get on the market.”

Waterford farmer Edmond Phelan revealed he has always bought 250 cattle to fatten but hasn’t bought a single animal this year. “Grass got short, so I had to put 100 cattle into the shed in July. I never had to do it in all my years. Generally, at this time, I would have at least 150 cattle bought. I won’t be fattening any cattle this year.”

Instead, he has sold silage to a neighbouring dairy farmer and is growing more fodder crops for sale. “If something isn’t working there is no point in flogging a dead horse”, he said.

Ear to the Ground is on RTÉ One, tonight, 8.30pm.