Phosphates

The 1998 Phosphorus Regulations

Cork County Council has completed the 1998 Phosphorous Regulations Implementation Report No. 3. This sets out the overall monitoring and management approach taking by Cork County Council to protect and enhance surface water quality in County Cork and implement the 1998 Phosphorus Regulations. What follows is a non-technical summary of the Phosphorus Regulations Implementation Report of 2004.

Non-Technical Summary of 2004 Implementation Report

The 1998 Phosphorus Regulations were brought into force under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977and the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Act, 1990. They set phosphorus levels and biological quality Q values for rivers and lakes. The regulations specify that water quality that is already satisfactory must be maintained, and that water quality that is unsatisfactory must be improved. These targets must be met by 2007.

Cork county Council has responsibility under the Phosphorus Regulations, 1998 (S.I. No. 258 1998) to maintain and/or improve surface water quality in rivers and lakes in their functional area. While there are many potential sources of phosphorus that can contribute to deterioration in water quality, the loss of phosphorus from agriculture is considered to be very significant.

Excess weed growth in a river due to excessive nutrients

There are a large number of rivers in County Cork, with approximately 1,200km of main channel and 2,000km of streams. These include the Blackwater catchment in North Cork, the Bandon, Gashaboy, the Lee catchments in South Cork and the Agrideen and Ilen catchments in West Cork. There are also many lakes of note, including Inniscarra, the largest man-made lake in County Cork.

Phosphorus from agriculture is the main pressure on water quality in County Cork. However, discharges from some municipal wastewater treatment plants, industries and forestry practices may also contribute to phosphorus loading in rivers in Cork.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carried out a baseline biological survey of surface water in County Cork in 1995-97, which identified 125 rivers and 32 lakes covered by the regulations. This biological survey looks at the different groups and numbers of insects, snails and other small animals living on the beds of rivers and streams, and assigns a quality rating from 1-5 to the river or stream on this basis. A Q5 represents very good water quality, while Q2 represents seriously polluted water. The survey is repeated on a three-year cycle, the most recent one being in the period 2001-2003.

Water quality in Cork is good, and it appears from the most recent unpublished EPA data from the 2001-2003 surveys that it is improving further. In the baseline survey of 1995-97, 77.4% of river sites were reported as satisfactory. This disimproved significantly to 73.4% in 1998-2000. However, considerable improvement is indicated by the preliminary data of 2001-2003, with 81.05% of sites satisfactory. Water quality has clearly improved in a number of catchments, which suggests a successful response to prioritised action programmes developed by the Council, particularly farm surveys of agricultural catchments.

Despite our good water quality, there are still two major concerns. The first is the continuing decline in the number and percentage of the highest biological water quality sites. In County Cork, 12.9% of the high-quality sites reported by the EPA as satisfactory in 2001-2003 have disimproved slightly since the baseline survey carried out in 1995-1997. This means that they are reported as non-compliant under the regulations, as they did not retain their quality status established in the baseline survey. Therefore, while 80.1% of our sites are reported as satisfactory, only 70% are actually compliant with the regulations. In most cases, it is not clear what is influencing the marginal decrease in water quality at these high-quality sites. The primary land use is agriculture, followed by forestry.

The second concern is that the level of serious pollution in County Cork has increased from 0.3% (one site) in 1995-1997 to 1.3% (five sites) in 2001-2003. This is a small number of sites from a total of 380 EPA monitoring sites in the county. It is clear what the problems are at these sites, and action is being taken to improve water quality.

County Council Implementation Programme, 2004-2006

Since 1996, the experience of staff in a range of departments in the Council has been brought together to identify where there are water quality problems in the county, and the causes of these problems. Regular reviews are carried out, the most recent being in January-April, 2004. This allows us to regularly re-examine, in light of information available, where there have been improvements in water quality and areas where further work is required. From this, a comprehensive programme of agricultural industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plant measures is drawn up and tailored to specific circumstances in each river or lake, and catchment or sub-catchment area.

A fisherman on the lake at Inniscarra

As our experience and information on the pressures affecting rivers and lakes in County Cork increases, we are able to refocus improvements and monitoring efforts on those waters most at risk, and also to target our high-quality sites. These efforts are not without their difficulties. Despite the substantial size of Cork County, resources must be regularly identified and harnessed continually in a changing financial environment.

The implementation of some measures, particularly agricultural improvements and the upgrading and construction of municipal wastewater treatment plants cannot be achieved immediately. They require realistic timeframes. Additionally, it is not clear what the effects of forestry developments and potential impact of silt and soil erosion from the forestry operations of planting, thinning and clear felling is having on water quality.

Definite improvements in water quality have been observed in some catchments, particularly the Owenboy river catchment in South Cork, the upper Awbeg in North Cork and the Argideen catchment in West Cork. This is in direct respsonse to intensive farm survey programmes carried out by the County Council Environment Department, and the degree of co-operation from the agricultural community in response to actions requested by Cork County Council.

At other sites, it is known that pressure on water quality is due to the impact of increased housing and discharge of sewage. In these areas, improvements have been noted when sanitary services sewage treatment infrastructure programmes have been completed to increase the capacity of treatment plants and improve treated effluent quality.

Substantial work is ongoing to achieve proposed measures and further improve water quality, including the following:

• The pressures and causes of poor water quality have been examined for each river and lake catchment, and are reviewed every two years as new information becomes available.
• An annual water quality monitoring programme is carried out by the Environment Department to gather information on the levels of phosphorus and nitrates in our rivers and lakes.
• Since 1996, prioritised farm inspection programmes have resulted in 5,364 farm visits being carried out; 2,624 advisory warning letters issued; and 421 legal notices served, either to request information or require works to be done to reduce the potential of agricultural effluent causing water pollution. Cork County Council has received a high degree of cooperation from the agricultural community in response to actions requested.
• There are almost 300 industries in the county licensed either by Cork County Council or the EPA. A significant programme is in place to monitor industries licensed by the Council and to further identify any industries requiring a license.
• Sewage treatment development schemes are being advanced by the Sanitary Services Divisions through various funding initiatives, to improve management and upgrade facilities at a large number of municipal wastewater treatment plants in the county.
• Investment in upgrading of wastewater treatment schemes is underpinned by the allocation of €533 million under the NDP 2002-2006.
• Forestry is a rapidly growing area, and as our experience in this area develops we will be better placed to examine the influence of forestry development and practices on water quality in County Cork.

A number of sites have been identified where it may prove difficult to achieve the water quality targets set by the Phosphorus Regulations by 2007. There is provision under the regulations to apply for an extension of the deadline until 2013. When further information is available, all sites will be reviewed and a final list will be submitted to the EPA for consideration.

It is considered that all measures being taken will continue the enhancement of water quality in County Cork. For further details, please see the Phosphorus Regulations Implementation Report, No. 3.