Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion

Ms Mary Gurrie:

Road run-off can be a pressure on water quality, particularly in urban areas or more densely trafficked areas.

It is a category when we do our assessment of all the different pressure types. It is grouped into a category with urban pressures, missed connections and so on. As a percentage, it is a relatively small number. I do not know if Dr. Deakin has the figure to hand. It is in the draft river basin management plan. On big motorway developments, we will see those kinds of attenuation ponds on the side of the road to try to settle out some of the sediment from the road run-off.