Ireland's plan to improve state of waters branded "missed opportunity to tackle pollution"
"Only 54 per cent of our waters are currently healthy which in itself is completely unacceptable"
The Government’s latest plan to restore Ireland’s flailing waters to ‘good’ ecological status has been branded a “missed opportunity to tackle pollution”.
Europe’s Water Framework Directive requires all member states to reach ‘good’ or ‘high’ by 2027 at the latest - so all our rivers, lakes, streams and coastal waters can support healthy ecosystems and the population.
Over 4,000 Irish surface and groundwaters are monitored under the law every three years by the Environmental Protection Agency. But according to their 2023 report, 46 per cent of them are not in good condition, with some even declining since the 2019-2021 period.
The Irish Mirror understands the coalition’s latest plan to improve the state of our waters will not be aiming to bring them all up to standard. Instead, they will focus on adding another 300 ‘goods’ to the list, with targeted measures for another 700 that will take longer to recover.
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A network of 25 environmental organisations called the The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) says it was “a missed opportunity to tackle water pollution... and other damage to our rivers, lakes, and coastal habitats”.
They highlighted how the number of healthy surface waters in Ireland has actually declined since 2000, when the EU passed law to protect them, saying successive governments failed to put in place the necessary pollution protection measures.
SWAN co-ordinator, Sinéad O’Brien, said: “Only 54 per cent of our waters are currently healthy, which in itself is completely unacceptable. It is therefore deeply disappointing that, when the measures in this plan are implemented, this is only projected to increase to 60 per cent at best.
“The plan shied away from introducing the measures really needed to halt and reverse pollution from agricultural and forestry run-off while allowing further foot-dragging from Uisce Eireann on overdue wastewater upgrades urgently needed to stop the worst sewage pollution.”
She says it also “failed to adequately identify and address the considerable pressures we have on our coastal waters”.
The third River Basin Management Plan will be launched by ministers Malcolm Noonan TD, Roderic O’Gorman TD and Anthony Coleman on Thursday. It was written in conjunction with a range of stakeholders and according to sources, will include the establishment of a new programme delivery office to ‘crack the whip’ when departments are not delivering. The plan also includes a long-awaited review of the country’s Arterial Drainage Act.
Sinéad says there are also positives in the plan, some of which SWAN and others had called for. She added: “The review of the Arterial Drainage Act... is a significant and important addition to the final plan.
“Physical alterations to rivers channels and adjoining land, mainly dredging, deepening and drainage are the second biggest threat to their ecological health and in large parts of the country this is mandated by this outdated Act. Reviewing and reforming it will be critical to restoring thousands of kilometres of rivers back to good health.”
She also welcomed the “commitment to the development of Catchment Management Plans and the involvement of local communities” and the minister’s promise to review the plan’s programme of actions.
Sinead added: “It’s vital this goes ahead as promised next year and, critically, that it bridges the significant shortfall in the plan which sees a paltry 10-20 per cent of our polluted and damaged waters restored to health by 2027. To do this, far stronger measures will be needed.
“These must include risk-based catchment level measures for agriculture and forestry, more urgent investment to halt sewage pollution, and stronger measures for the specific pressures on our coasts, such as fish-farming. SWAN will be calling for these measures to be introduced as soon as possible.
“The Plan relies heavily on ‘Sectoral Action Plans’, which are to be developed for the key sectors, including agriculture, forestry and wastewater. To be effective, these must contain whatever additional measures are needed to specifically target known impacts in catchments, e.g. intensive livestock agriculture in catchments vulnerable to run-off, as opposed to a recycled list of existing general and national-level initiatives, and policies the sector already has in place.”
Speaking at the launch on the banks of the River Nore at Grennan Mill, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, Minister Noonan said: "It's well past time to clean up our rivers, lakes and coasts, and that's what we're doing with this new Water Action Plan. There are three core aims: to prevent and reduce water pollution, to let more rivers run free and restore their natural ecosystem functions, and to continue the positive trajectory of investment in water infrastructure.
"Crucially, communities are at the heart of the effort and will be empowered to understand the challenges in their area and get involved in solving them through new participation structures. As our population grows and our climate changes, it's vital that everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel to protect the vulnerable water resources that we all depend on."
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