‘Agriculture to blame’ for sharp decline in water quality in Tipperary

The sharp decline in water quality in river, lakes and streams across Tipperary has been caused by agriculture, a meeting of Clonmel Borough District has been told.

Fran Igoe, the Regional Co-ordinator of the South East Region of the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), said it was the organisation’s job to find out what type of agriculture was responsible, and where the hotspots were.

He said that LAWPRO had measures to support farmers, including grants of between €10,000 and €40,000 per farmer. Buffer zones could also be created on farms.

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LAWPRO works on behalf of Ireland’s 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries, ground and coastal water through catchment science and local community engagement.

In Mr Igoe’s report to the meeting, it was stated that water quality in Tipperary had declined very sharply in recent years and over a relatively short period of time, accounting for one of the most significant drops for any county in Ireland.

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Considerable work by all stakeholders would be needed to turn it around and meet the required standards, and to support healthy communities.

He said the decline in Tipperary had been dramatic, but there was hope.
In Clonmel town, the water quality of the River Suir is good but it “dropped significantly” when you reached the Anner.

There was further good news for the Suir from the indicators that showed that nitrate levels were reducing, and hopefully that could be built upon.

However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also stated that data shows that nitrogen levels remain too high in the southeastern half of the country.

“Agriculture is the primary source of nitrogen in these areas.
“Targeted and sustained action will be needed in the higher risk, freely draining, agricultural areas to reduce nitrogen losses to waters before aquatic ecological health, and overall water quality will improve,” the EPA stated.

Mr Igoe said that many of the habitats and species listed for protection in both the Birds and Habitats Directives are water dependent. Bats, otters and other animals were evident on the river.

Clonmel and the Suir are important internationally and still support a wide range of threatened biodiversity/wildlife species, he said.

Community funding, guidance, support, information and citizen science was very accessible and he encouraged groups to access those supports.

Heritage week events that had been held in Kilsheelan, Cahir and Thurles were part of LAWPRO’s community engagements.
More intense rainfall increases the risk to the storm water and combined sewer network.

Increasing volumes of water may exceed the design capacity of the storm water network such as gullies and underground pipes.

Mr Igoe acknowledged the work of District Engineer Gillian Flynn and her colleagues for the rain gardens and water management features that had been installed as part of the Active Travel Project on the Cashel Road.

He told the Mayor, Pat English, that high phosphorus levels were the primary cause of the growth of reeds on the river bed.
He also appealed to people organising canoeing events on the river to ensure that canoes and other equipment had been cleaned.

Mr Igoe told Cllr John FitzGerald that the recent fish kill on the River Blackwater in north Cork was very concerning.
The EPA had indicated that this wasn’t “an agricultural event”.

Overall, industry also needed to act responsibly. The EPA monitored the run-off from treatments plants in Tipperary, he added.