Up to 1,171 farmers risk incurring a €5,000 penalty for failing to sign up to an Environment Protection Agency (EPA) water register.

Farmers using over 25,000 litres of water per day must sign up to the online register or risk the once-off penalty, but the EPA told the Irish Farmers Journal that not a single farmer has signed up to the register to date.

About 750 dairy farmers, 320 piggeries, 100 horticulture farmers and one sheep farmer have less than a month to sign the register before the 16 November deadline. However, the EPA said it has yet to determine the number of beef and poultry farmers who would be affected by the register.

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After the deadline, all new abstractions exceeding 25,000 litres per day will need to register within one month of starting.

Inspections

The register is part of a tightening of restrictions around farm water usage, with legislation being worked on by the Department of Housing as part of the River Basin and Management Plan announced earlier this year which included an increased focus on farm water inspections. Local authorities have also availed of existing rules to crack down on pesticide and fertiliser use within a 250-metre zone of water abstraction points on farmland under nitrates regulations.

While affected farmers accept that protecting water is in the public interest, they’ve pointed out that this limits their land use and decreases the value of farmland.

“Over the years, farmers have allowed wells to be drilled on their lands to provide their neighbours with a water supply, which over time has been taken over by local authorities and now Irish Water,” IFA environment chair Thomas Cooney said. He added that Irish Water and the Department of Housing must now come up with “an equitable package of measures, including compensation where losses arise due to water abstractions”.