A range of actions is being pursued for the improved management and/or reduction of nutients, including phosphorus, with a view to tackling the problem of lake eutrophication. These actions include: promotion of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice to Protect Waters from Pollution launched jointly in July 1996 by the Ministers for the Environment and Agriculture, Food and Forestry; the amendment — in the Waste Management Act, 1996 — of the Water Pollution (Amendment) Act, 1990, allowing local authorities to impose statutory controls in respect of nutrients, including phosphorus, where warranted for the purposes of restoring or protecting water quality; the launch on 13 December 1996 of revised Teagasc recommended application rates for phosphorus fertilisers for grassland; the extension, since 3 September 1996, of the integrated pollution control licensing system under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 to new intensive agricultural activities in the pig and poultry sectors; the ongoing implementation by my Department, in conjunction with local authorities, of the major programme of capital investment, entailing estimated expenditure of £1.3 billion by 2005, on upgrading sewage treatment facilities so as to meet the requirement of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. As part of this programme, phosphorus reduction facilities will be provided by 31 December 1998 for sewage discharges from Athlone, Nenagh, Tullamore, Killarney, Longford and Cavan, as well as other smaller towns, with significant benefits for water quality in Loughs Derg, Leane, Oughter and Ree. These facilities will significantly reduce phosphorus loadings from sewage, and the imposition by local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency of controls, as appropriate, in respect of phosphorus discharges from industrial activities through the exercise of their statutory licensing control functions.
To provide better co-ordination for the above actions, and to intensify efforts at protecting the vulnerable water quality of lakes, my Department in finalising a lake catchment management strategy. This will aim to encourage an integrated approach to catchment management, based on the co-operation of all economic and other interests involved. The situation will be kept under review in the light of ongoing assessment of lake water quality trends and further actions will be developed, as appropriate.
