Landowners in the River Derg catchment area, Counties Tyrone and Donegal, have been urged to apply for funding under the pilot Land Incentive Scheme.

This €1.2 million cross-border scheme offers funding that will improve water quality protection and improve the sustainability of the farm business.  

The pilot Scheme is part of the Source to Tap Project, which is supported by the European Union's INTERREG VA Programme and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

NI Water is the lead Partner on the scheme, working in collaboration with Irish Water/Uisce Éireann, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, East Border Region, Ulster University and The Rivers Trust.

Explaining more about the scheme, Diane Foster, Source to Tap Project Manager explained: "The Scheme is designed to fund measures on farms, such as weed-wiping rushes and watercourse fencing to reduce the amount of herbicide and soil escaping to the River Derg that is a shared source of raw drinking water for communities in Counties Tyrone and Donegal. 

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"There is still time for farmers to benefit from the Scheme, but they would need to contact us as soon as possible to allow our project officers to visit the farm, produce a plan and allow the landowners to have all the works carried out by July this year if eligible. If landowners don't contact us now, they could miss out on up to £20,000 or €23,000 worth of investment on the farm at 100% funding."

To help landowners get involved in the Land incentive Scheme, the Source to Tap team are hosting a series of information days about this scheme and are calling for the farming community in the River Derg catchment area to come along and find out more. They will be held at:

• Meenreagh Social Centre - Wednesday 11 March from 3-8pm

• Killeter Heritage Centre - Wednesday 23 March from 3-8pm

• Derg Valley Leisure Centre - Wednesday 25 March from 3-8pm.

Shaun Slevin, a farmer involved in the Scheme, added: "It's not often you come across 100% funding for anything these days, so for the opportunity to get a contractor in to weed wipe on part of my land, fence off sheughs and streams and to install drinking troughs was brilliant. Knowing that this is helping by sending less soil to the river is an added bonus. The project officer I dealt with was fantastic and was always there at the end of the phone and always very helpful."

The deadline for the Land Incentive Scheme is July 2020.

(CM/JG)