EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 13: Environment and Agriculture Figure 13.3  Targeting agricultural measures (Source: EPA) Siltation caused by poor practice in the drainage of rivers and land drainage has been identified as having widespread environmental impacts. Agricultural sources of silt include land drainage, river bank collapse from cattle accessing watercourses, lack of buffer/riparian zones or catch crops on tillage land, farm roadways, poaching of wet soil by animals and exposed soils during reseeding. Measures aimed at reducing siltation are similar to those proposed for reducing phosphorus loss as they need to break the pathway between the source of the silt and watercourses. Good practice examples include well- designed and targeted buffer zone, farm ponds and managed ditches. Reducing the impact of agriculture on water quality requires urgent, coordinated and evidence- based intervention. Under the national River Basin Management Plan 2018-2021 (DHPLG, 2018), action is now being targeted in 190 Areas for Action. Where water quality is being impacted by agricultural activities in these areas, 30 new farm sustainability advisors (twenty from Teagasc and ten from the dairy industry), under the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme (ASSAP), are working with farmers to identify the problems and implement the right measures in the right places. This is a free and confidential advisory service funded and involving collaboration between the DAFM, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Local Authority Waters Programme and Dairy Sustainability Ireland. Drinking Water and Agriculture Protecting drinking water sources from the pesticide MCPA and slurry spreading are important public health issues in Ireland. The quality of drinking water sources can be affected by many factors such as soil type, geology, agricultural practices, industrial, municipal and domestic discharges and heavy rainfall events. As a result, the treatment of water for use as a potable supply is complex in nature. There are two sources of drinking water in Ireland, namely public water supplies and private water supplies (which includes group water schemes and private wells). Agricultural activities pose a significant risk to drinking water sources through the storage and use of pesticides and through microbial contamination. While the quality of drinking water in public supplies remains high, with over 99 per cent microbiological and chemical compliance after treatment, persistent pesticide failures in some supplies remain (EPA, 2020c). Pesticides, mainly MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid), are used to control rushes, ragwort and thistles. They are also used in parks, on sports grounds and on golf courses, as well as in private gardens. MCPA is the most common pesticide found in drinking water (63% of all cases in 2019). At the end of 2019, the EPA was investigating 31 supplies serving just under 294,300 people because of failures to meet the necessary pesticide standard. This was a decrease from 42 supplies affecting 283,500 people at the end of 2018. It is important to note that pesticides may have been sprayed on land that is far from drinking water sources (lakes, groundwater or rivers) and that a considerable period of time may elapse between spraying and when contamination is found in water samples as part of routine monitoring. A perverse incentive exists whereby rush-dominated swards may be controlled through the use of products such as MCPA so that lands remain or become eligible for payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This means that drinking water sources are being put at risk because of the eligibility rules for payments under the CAP. Efforts are needed to encourage the responsible use of pesticides and, where possible and feasible, the use of non-chemical methods for weed control should be considered. Further information on the protection of drinking water from pesticides can be found on the EPA website. 6 6 http://www.epa.ie/water/dw/protectingdrinkingwatersupplies/ 337