Kildare County Council Reminds Farmers to Protect Watercourses
12 June 2025: The European Union (Good Agricultural Practices for Protection of Waters) Regulations, 2022, as amended (GAP Regulations), outline the requirements for the collection, storage, management and land spreading of farmyard manure, organic fertiliser and soiled water produced on a farm holding.
The Regulations specify the methods for applying organic fertiliser, including weather conditions and periods when land spreading is prohibited. There are also limitations in relation to buffer distances, ground conditions, forecasted weather, slurry application equipment, and spreading dates.
From January 1st 2025, the use of low emission slurry spreading (LESS) has become compulsory on farms stocked at 100kg N/ha or above. Low emission spreading equipment shall be used to apply slurry to land
Using LESS equipment can reduce ammonia emissions by 30-60%, significantly minimising the risk of nutrient runoff into rivers, lakes and groundwater. This practice is expected to play a significant role in meeting Irish agriculture’s emission reduction targets.
Organic fertiliser or soiled water must not be applied to land within:
- 5m of any surface waters, increasing to 10m for two weeks before and after October 1st and January 12th annually.
- 20m of a lake shoreline
- 25m of domestic wells
- 100-200m of public water supplies
Organic and chemical fertilisers or soiled water must not be applied to land in the following circumstances:
- When the land is waterlogged, flooded, snow-covered, or frozen
- When heavy rain is forecast within 48 hours
- When the ground slopes steeply, posing a risk of water pollution due to surface runoff pathways, land drains, absence of hedgerows, soil condition, and ground cover.
Local authority staff conduct inspections of farmyards to ensure compliance with the GAP regulations and can report any breaches to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), which may result in penalties applied to the basic farm payment.
The farming community is generally environmentally conscious, and the local authority urges farmers to be particularly mindful of water quality when spreading slurry.
For further information, visit the Kildare County Council website at: https://kildarecoco.ie/AllServices/Environment/Water/FarmingandtheEnvironment/
