The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said that ongoing and sustained action will have to continue in the higher risk, freely draining, agricultural areas.
The EPA published updates to its Evidence-based targeting of agricultural measures to reduce nitrogen in catchments to achieve water quality objectives report on Thursday.
There were three updates in the report: the scale of nitrogen load reductions needed in the catchments in the southeastern half of the country where nitrogen levels remain too high; a new edition of the Farm and Landscape measures for Agriculture (FLAG) map has been released; and there was an extension of the datasets of catchment nitrogen concentrations and catchment nitrogen load reductions needed, for the period 1990 to 2024.
In addition, most catchments are now closer to their target nitrogen levels than they were in previous assessments.
Average nitrate concentrations in rivers (2024) Concentrations >11.5 mg/l as NO3 (equivalent to 2.6 mg/l as N) are elevated and need to be reduced to support good ecological status in the estuaries and coastal waterbodies. / EPA
Targets
The EPA said these ongoing actions will be needed to further reduce nitrogen losses to waters before aquatic ecological health, and overall water quality will improve.
The updates to the evidence have been informed by the most recently published EPA report on nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in Irish waters 2024 which noted that although nitrogen levels reduced in 2024, they remain too high in the catchments in the southeastern half of the country.
This report showed that some areas have achieved the required nitrogen reductions, and most catchments are now closer to their target than they were for the previous assessment which covered the period 2017-2019.
However, the current results still fall short of the levels observed between 2008 and 2011, which remains the period when nitrogen levels were closest to meeting ecological targets over the past 35 years.
Read more
Opinion: Ireland is sleepwalking into a nitrates crisis - Barry Cowen
Derogation: Martin Heydon on why Ireland can't just tell EU to 'shove it'
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said that ongoing and sustained action will have to continue in the higher risk, freely draining, agricultural areas.
The EPA published updates to its Evidence-based targeting of agricultural measures to reduce nitrogen in catchments to achieve water quality objectives report on Thursday.
There were three updates in the report: the scale of nitrogen load reductions needed in the catchments in the southeastern half of the country where nitrogen levels remain too high; a new edition of the Farm and Landscape measures for Agriculture (FLAG) map has been released; and there was an extension of the datasets of catchment nitrogen concentrations and catchment nitrogen load reductions needed, for the period 1990 to 2024.
In addition, most catchments are now closer to their target nitrogen levels than they were in previous assessments.
Average nitrate concentrations in rivers (2024) Concentrations >11.5 mg/l as NO3 (equivalent to 2.6 mg/l as N) are elevated and need to be reduced to support good ecological status in the estuaries and coastal waterbodies. / EPA
Targets
The EPA said these ongoing actions will be needed to further reduce nitrogen losses to waters before aquatic ecological health, and overall water quality will improve.
The updates to the evidence have been informed by the most recently published EPA report on nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in Irish waters 2024 which noted that although nitrogen levels reduced in 2024, they remain too high in the catchments in the southeastern half of the country.
This report showed that some areas have achieved the required nitrogen reductions, and most catchments are now closer to their target than they were for the previous assessment which covered the period 2017-2019.
However, the current results still fall short of the levels observed between 2008 and 2011, which remains the period when nitrogen levels were closest to meeting ecological targets over the past 35 years.
Read more
Opinion: Ireland is sleepwalking into a nitrates crisis - Barry Cowen
Derogation: Martin Heydon on why Ireland can't just tell EU to 'shove it'
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