Advancing freshwater restoration

My Projects

Farming for water quality ASSAP

Factors influencing contaminant losses to water

Welcome to Catchments.ie - Water from source to sea.

EPAMaps - Water

Local Authority Waters Programme

WaterMARKE - Mitigating Agricultural Impact through Research and Knowledge Exchange

• Key project facts

  As head the implementation of the Better Farming for Water campaign, I work with the Agricultural Sustainability and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) created to provide a scientific evidence based approach to pressure identification and the provision of farmer focussed advice in 190 priority areas for action (PAAs) located throughout the country. The advice is free and confidential and the service is provided by 20 advisors from the government (Teagasc) and 24 advisors from the dairy processing co-ops. Farmers can avail of this service within the ‘areas for action’ on a voluntary basis.

• What impact did these projects have on biodiversity, if any?

  The PAAs are water bodies that are at risk of not reaching their WFD targets. There are multiple pressures across the areas for action; industry, waste water treatment plants and septic tanks, forestry, agriculture and urban pressures. The ASSAP  focuses its resources on addressing agricultural pressures which have a direct impact on water quality and the biodiversity of the streams and waterways.

• What work challenges did you face and what approach did you take to solve them?

  The key is making a strategic change to the traditional planning process resulting in focusing on the importance of a collaborative, bottom–up, targeted and adequately resourced. The importance of specific requirements of the WFD is unchanged but an increased emphasis is placed on stakeholder and community involvement in resolving water quality issues.

• What lessons learned are transferable to other places/projects?

  The measures recommended go above and beyond current regulatory requirements and implementation is voluntary. The recommendations will help to put ‘the right measure in the right place’ and prevent contaminants from entering water. A written summary (farm plan) of the advice and actions will be provided to the farmer and a timeframe for completion agreed.

• What is your biggest barrier and what are you trying to do about it?
  

  By the end of 2023, the advisors from the program visited over 4,000 farms, identified over 20,000 issues (high, medium and low risk issues) and recommended 26,000 mitigation actions. Approximately 60% of recommended actions for high risk issues were implemented by farmers, despite numerous barriers to implementation covering social, economic and cultural reasons. At the launch of the program, farmers covered the cost of any measures out of their own resources. The Government has identified this as a significant barrier and move to provide funding through the EIP process for financial assistance to farmers to implement measures to protect water quality.