Vol. 529 No. 1
802 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has designated any areas of County Meath as nitrate vulnerable zones due to excess pollution of river and groundwater supplies; and the additional actions that will be taken to combat pollution in these zones once they have been designated. [1290/01]
Nitrate vulnerable zones have not yet been formally designated in any county. EU Directive 91/676/EEC (the Nitrates Directive) requires member states to take certain measures to identify waters affected by pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources; to identify the land areas, or catchments, which drain into the affected waters, and to designate such areas as nitrate vulnerable zones. Special action programmes must be developed and implemented in these areas to reduce and prevent pollution of waters by nitrates. A primary consideration is the management of manures and fertilisers.
I indicated in a press statement on 15 July 2000 that a panel of experts had identified certain groundwaters in five counties – Carlow, Cork, Kerry, Louth and Waterford – as affected waters; that nitrates levels in these waters are approaching or, in some cases exceeding, the limits set by European legislation, and that the relevant county councils were being asked to identify the catchments involved with a view to the formal designation of these areas as NVZs. Work on identifying the relevant catchments is proceeding. I envisage that the appropriate areas will be designated as NVZs during the current year. Following designation, an action programme must be established within one year in relation to the area for the purposes of reducing and preventing pollution of waters by nitrates from agricultural sources. The programme must be implemented over a four year period.
The designation of an area as an NVZ will place a higher emphasis on measures that are already in place in practice: the voluntary code of good agricultural practice to protect waters from pollution by nitrates will become mandatory in an NVZ; the efforts now being applied to reduce the use of phosphorus generally will be extended to nitrogen; and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development will actively promote participation in appropriate rural development programmes by farmers in an NVZ. The aforementioned code of good agricultural practice is contained in the Blue Book, issued jointly by my Department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development in 1996. It contains advice and recommendations for farmers as to storage of agricultural fertilisers; standards and specifications for construction of storage facilities; when to apply organic and chemical fertilisers to land; appropriate rates of application of fertilisers; and precautions to be taken to avoid causing water pollution. I am keeping under review the need to identify as affected waters other bodies of water which display elevated levels of nitrates.
