Results 1-20 of 23 for epa segment:8836532

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

...dairy farming are negatively impacting water quality, both surface and groundwater, and that we need a different approach to mitigate that impact. In 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, identified several catchments of concern for elevated nitrogen concentrations in the south and south-east, including the River Bandon, River Slaney, River Lee and the River Tolka and River...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

...20 years ago, phosphate pollution was the problem. The answer is neither because they are both a problem but when it comes to nitrate it is disimproving quite dramatically year on year. The EPA is normally quite measured, but it is coming out with statements saying that there have been alarming declines in the water quality in estuaries. Phosphates are still a problem but nitrate is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Ms Bernie Connolly: That is the EPA report, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

...suitable to go out and plant. I note this year was particularly bad. Regarding how to square the circle, I think you just bring it back to science. Look at the areas of the catchment where the EPA has identified high potential areas for losing nitrate. If the tillage area is in one of those areas, then is it also incredibly important for birds? You need to have all the information...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

...be more of a phosphate problem. Nitrogen comes straight down through the soil whereas when animals access water, it often leads to sediment and phosphorous problems. Therefore, they would be separate enough. The EPA has data on where the phosphate problem is and where the nitrate problem is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: ...more at home straightaway. BirdWatch Ireland made an interesting presentation regarding its members' view on cover crops. We can see the map published by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and where there are issues of water quality shown by its testing. There is a red map on page 27. I married a woman from Cloyne and I know east Cork well. It is big tillage country. There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: I took those figures from the EPA data, so-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: ...and advice. It is amazing what they learned very quickly. It has proven something different, however, regarding good farming practices and the quality of testing. Is there an issue with how the EPA tester boils water? If one regime in the catchments is testing every ten minutes and another regime is testing every four weeks, is that a failure within the EPA regarding its testing regimes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: ...to hear its good name being diminished in any way. Regarding the results, however, the stocking rates have increased quite dramatically. A place such as Leitrim is totally red, according to the EPA results, with one derogation farmer. If we got rid of every bovine farmer in Leitrim tomorrow morning, would it still be red?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: In fact, the EPA itself would say its red map is not based on its best science but is what was required of it by the Commission. The EPA has developed another map, its agricultural measures map, into which it has put all its best science and its far more extensive monitoring network, so-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: The science is based off the directive. The EPA put the red map together based on the directive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: What we are discussing today is whether the directive is fit for purpose. Dr. McGoff obviously believes changes to the directive the EPA is enforcing are required if what we are coming up with is a red map that the EPA must then clarify by way of a counter-map.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: I had discussions with Commission officials about this and they were very clear that, while the red map had to be supplied by the EPA in accordance with Article 10 of the nitrates directive, that does not mean the EPA and the Irish Government cannot also consider other information. The EPA put together a much more thorough map because it would acknowledge that the soil...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: We should not be talking about the EPA map on page 27.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: I mean page 27 of the EPA report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: There are bits that should be on that red map that are not. The EPA will put its hands up and say it is not their best science. It has put its best science together in its map for targeting agricultural measures. That is really what we should be looking at.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Tim Lombard: ...week that, when I get my milk collected on a dairy round on a Tuesday, I will have a test on Thursday. I will know the water quality and the quality of my product exactly. Information from the EPA's testing regime does not come quickly. The EPA will publish a report next June for the year before. Do we need to empower farmers with that information? I have used the catchment data for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: I do not think it is. The EPA samples a couple of times a year and uploads the information onto Catchments.ie. I acknowledge that, if a report comes out in a couple of months' time, it will be based on 2023 data. There is a delay but the information-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Dr. Elaine McGoff: In that case, the Leas-Chathaoirleach is almost talking about something different. The EPA does a massive volume of work with its monitoring. It has a great monitoring network and it does its thing. However, is this more suitable for citizen science and the kind of water quality testing Ms Dubsky is talking about? That could really get local communities invested in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

...We are also seeing problems because of forestry with our water quality and we seeing problems with what is called hydromorphology where one is dredging and straightening rivers. If you look at the EPA maps, a lot of those problems are spread all over the place. As nitrate is quite isolated in the south and south east, the pristine water bodies tend to be up in the uplands where there is...