The Green Party is calling for a new national land use plan to be established after a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed an ongoing decline of pristine water quality in areas throughout Ireland.

Figures showed that the number of river locations with pure clean water has fallen from 500 sites in the late 1980s to only 21 locations

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan TD said: "We have to move away from the current intensive farming model and adopt 'High Nature Value' agriculture instead. This has to benefit the farmer as well as the environment. In the West and Southwest of the country we will have to pay for protecting biodiversity, storing carbon and managing floodwaters. In the rich grasslands to the south and east we need more precision grass, nutrient and water management, to reduce the use of fertilizers and cut out the pollution at source.

-- Advertisement --

"We must also stop the inappropriate spread of manures from farming and the runoff of sewage from leaking septic tanks and faulty sewage systems. We need to match such an approach with an end to the destruction of our bogs and the clear felling of forestry, both of which are silting of our rivers and lakes.

"It is not impossible to turn this around but we will have to look to ourselves for best case example. The Danes, Dutch and Germans have ruined their waters by developing an unsustainable agricultural model. For once we have the chance of showing them what to do."

(CD/MH)