Dr. Eimear Cotter:

They are not excluded. Once we take the measurement from a river, lake or estuary and analyse it to see what the level of nutrients is in that sample, we then work backwards. We look at the particular water body and then at what is happening in that particular area. If we take a river or lake anywhere, we are looking at what the population is, the number of people in that area, the number and location of septic tanks, whether there is an urban wastewater plant in the area and what is the level of treatment, what is the number of cows in the area and their excretion rates and we also look at forestry and industry. We look at the full picture of what is happening in that local area and, from there, we determine what are the main sources of the nutrients we have measured in the water. We do not exclude anything and we publish the main pressures on water bodies in Ireland. We can make that available to the committee. I referred to that earlier. We see agriculture impacting about 1,000 water bodies but it is not the only pressure in the country.

We are seeing pressure from physical modifications, from urban wastewater which impacts 208 water bodies, as well as forestry. We can provide that graph to the committee, if it is helpful.