Dr. Eimear Cotter:

Approximately 50% is from agriculture and 50% is from wastewater treatment. To speak about nitrates, what we see overall is that nitrate levels are too high in 40% of our rivers and 20% of our estuaries. These issues are especially acute in the east and south east of the country where we have a combination of more intensively farmed land, as Deputy O'Sullivan has indicated, and good agricultural land with free draining soils where the nitrates move off the land into our waters.

We are very aware of Teagasc's programme in the Timoleague area and I have dealt with many questions on this. There are differences between what we do and what Teagasc is doing in the area. Compared with what we monitor, Teagasc is monitoring a smaller area. Our monitoring takes in the whole of the Argideen river catchment, of which Timoleague is part. It is 88 sq. km, which is approximately ten times larger than the area being monitored by Teagasc in Timoleague. Monitoring by both Teagasc and the EPA shows that nitrate levels are too high. In fact, Teagasc's monitoring shows higher nitrate levels than what we see in the full catchment area.

We are not just measuring nitrates. We are also measuring the biology and what is happening in the waters in terms of the plants, animals and algae. This gives us a full picture of the water quality. This is replicated throughout the country, including in the Argideen river area. Not only do we see the nitrate levels, we also see the impact on the biology. Overall this tells us that the water quality is not satisfactory and that we need to reduce nitrate levels in particular to where they can sustain good water quality.