Nenagh councillor says farmers are 'not the villains' when it comes to water quality

Farmers are “always made the villains” when it comes to water quality, according to Cllr Michael O’Meara at the January meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council which heard that water quality in the county had deteriorated from 61% of it being good to a figure of 31% at present.

“It is frightening to look at where water quality is deplorable but farmers are not the problem. They are always willing to embrace change,” he said following a presentation by officers from LAWPRO, the Local Authority Water Programme.

Cllr O’Meara said that he would like to see the water quality figure back up beyond the current 61%.

Cllr Ger Darcy agreed the figures didn’t make “great reading, especially when you consider the money spent by farmers in recent years”.

Ruth Hennessy of LAWPRO told the meeting that improvement was needed in the Nenagh district where scientists are currently working in the catchment of the Nenagh River. The LAWPRO report before the council revealed that discharges from industry and wastewater within Nenagh town are a significant source of the nutrient load; however there are also losses of nutrients from agricultural lands occurring within this catchment, particularly nitrate but also some phosphorus on the poorer draining soils.

Both LAWPRO and Tipperary County Council will continue work in catchments in the Nenagh district over the coming years, the report said.

Ms Hennessy pointed out that LAWPRO had a Community Water Development Fund, which supports community groups to enhance the quality of local streams, rivers, lakes and coastal areas, or raise awareness/water literacy about local waters.

One example of a project funded in the Nenagh Municipal District is a river enhancement project initiated by Ballinderry Development Association on the Ballyfinboy River to include works from Mousehouse Bridge for approximately 900m towards the shores of Lough Derg. This project is being funded in phases and is currently entering Phase III to involve detunnelling, the removal of invasive species, the planting of native tree species, a fisherman’s walk and river fencing from adjacent farmland. This project is one strand of a series of threads which have been developed in parallel to redevelop Ballinderry and the Lower Ballyfinboy.

LAWPRO and Tipperary County Council are seen as joint partners together with the Ballinderry Development Association in bringing this plan to fruition.

LAWPRO is engaging with co-ops operating in Tipperary and meetings with farmers and processors are scheduled to take place in the coming months, the report stated.