The pollution-monitoring role of local authorities has been expanded following the new package announced by the Department of the Environment.
The authorities will have to identify all sources of phosphate loadings in water catchments in their areas - the single most important contributor to pollution - and set out how they will be reduced over 10 years.
Local authorities will be required to submit an initial report to the Environmental Protection Agency within a year setting out measures to be taken to ensure effective fresh water pollution control. They will have to report every two years on progress in achieving targets. This is the first time targets for water pollution reduction have been set.
The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Dan Wallace, underlined the importance of local authorities' role and of his specific request that the EPA has sufficient powers to ensure compliance. Speaking after the publication of guidelines for the authorities on nutrient management, he said some were better than others in responding to water pollution but all would now be subject to a national system aimed at reducing phosphate build-up.
Farmers, industry and forestry developers will also have to embrace the concept of "nutrient management planning". For farmers, this would be a vital tool in reducing the excessive use of 46,000 tonnes of phosphorus every year.
The guidelines show how local authorities should implement the nutrient management planning provisions in the 1996 Waste Management Act. "Under the Act, local authorities have power to require the preparation of nutrient management plans in circumstances where this is necessary to prevent, eliminate or minimise losses to water. I want to see more extensive use of these provisions by local authorities," Mr Wallace said.
Nutrient management focuses on organic fertiliser, slurry and manure applications to soil, and ensuring what is added is what is needed for optimum crop production while at the same time avoiding leakage into waters.
The approach should be made mandatory for all parties including farmers, the environmental group, Voice, said. "From next year, thousands of tonnes of sewage sludge, currently being dumped at sea, is to be disposed of on land, placing a huge nutrient burden on our rivers and lakes. It is therefore time to make nutrient management planning compulsory," said the group's spokeswoman, Ms Iva Pocock.
