Dangers facing Ireland's water quality

A surprising amount of potentially damaging activities, which are not regulated, can take place close to sensitive water bodies.

Land reclamation, use of bulldozers, scrub clearance, drainage works, tree-felling, and entry of animals to waterways are among a large number of unregulated activities that are causing damage and need to be controlled, says the report.

Local communities can also play a vital role in protecting the purity of high value rivers, lakes and coastal areas. Public awareness is seen as a key factor.

The report says people should be told they are living in high-status catchments, why such places are important and what type of activities can damage them.

Schools should also be given more information by way of awareness programmes, similar to the successful Green Schools and Green Flag programmes.

It also calls for co-ordinated action at national and river basin levels to protect high-status sites and says action is needed at local level on local sites.

The report lists 30 unregulated activities for which it recommends controls, including:

*Use of excavators, rock breakers, bulldozers and other hydraulically-power equipment;

*Blasting, drilling, dredging or otherwise removing, or disturbing, rock, minerals, mud, sand, gravel, or other sediment;

*Draining activities relating to turf-cutting, or peat extraction;

*Introduction of animals and plants not found in an area;

*Construction, or alteration, of tracks, paths, roads, bridges, culverts, access routes, fences, stone walls, hedgerows and field boundaries;

*Digging, ploughing, harrowing, or disturbing previously undisturbed soil;

*Spreading of pesticides, lime, fertiliser, slurry, or farmyard manure close to sensitive water bodies;

*Digging, deepening, widening, or blocking a drain, watercourse or water body;

*Entry of livestock or machinery into water bodies.