Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 640: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position with regard to the criteria or guidelines used by his Department when adjudicating on the distance from water courses that slurry spreading should be prohibited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34002/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Where the application to land of animal slurry and other organic substances is prohibited, buffer zones adjacent to watercourses are intended to avoid or reduce the risk of water pollution arising from the overland flow of such substances. Particular care is required for the protection of public health in the case of watercourses which serve as sources of drinking water.

The Code of Good Agricultural Practice to Protect Waters from Pollution by Nitrates, issued in 1996 jointly by my Department and the Department of Agriculture and Food, contains recommendations relating to farm management practices, including the spreading of slurry. It recommends that buffer zones of specified minimum distances be maintained from watercourses, wells, etc. when spreading slurry. Similar provisions will be included in the regulations now being finalised to provide statutory support for good agricultural practice and to give effect to the nitrates action programme.