European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 2014
• Citation: IR SI 31/2014

CONTENTS

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

ARTICLE

1. Citation, commencement and application

2. Purpose of Regulations

3. Revocations

4. Interpretation

PART 2

FARMYARD MANAGEMENT

5. Minimisation of soiled water

6. Collection and holding of certain substances

7. Provision and management of storage facilities

8. General obligations as to capacity of storage facilities

9. Capacity of storage facilities for effluents and soiled water

10. Capacity of storage facilities for pig manure

11. Capacity of storage facilities for poultry manure

12. Capacity of storage facilities for manure from deer, goats and sheep

13. Capacity of storage facilities for manure from cattle

14. Reduced storage capacity in certain circumstances

PART 3

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

15. Interpretation, commencement etc.

16. Duty of occupier in relation to nutrient management

PART 4

PREVENTION OF WATER POLLUTION FROM FERTILISERS AND CERTAIN ACTIVITIES

17. Distances from a water body and other issues

18. Requirements as to manner of application of fertilisers, soiled water etc.

19. Periods when application of fertilisers is prohibited

20. Limits on the amount of livestock manure to be applied

21. Ploughing and the use of non-selective herbicides

PART 5

GENERAL

22. General duty of occupier

23. Keeping of records by occupier

24. False or misleading information

25. Authorised person

26. Offences and related matters

PART 6

FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

27. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

28. Making and review of action programme by the Minister

29. Agency

30. Local authorities

31. Compliance with Data Protection Acts

32. Certificate in relation to nutrient content of fertiliser

33. Exemption for exceptional circumstances for research

34. Transitional provisions

SCHEDULE 1

Soil test

SCHEDULE 2

Criteria as to storage capacity and nutrient management

SCHEDULE 3

Storage periods for livestock manure

SCHEDULE 4

Periods when application of fertilisers to land is prohibited

S.I. No. 31 of 2014

EUROPEAN UNION (GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE FOR PROTECTION OF WATERS) REGULATIONS 2014

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 31st January, 2014.

I, PHIL HOGAN, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving further effect to Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 19911 , Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 20002 , Directive 2003/35/EC of 26 May 20033 , Directive 2006/11/EC of 15 February 20064 , Directive 2006/118/EC of 12 December 20065 and Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 20086 hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and application

1. (a) These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014.

(b) These Regulations shall apply to all holdings in the State.

(c) These Regulations shall apply to all movements of livestock manure in the State.

Purpose of Regulations

2. The purpose of these Regulations is to give effect to Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme for the protection of waters against pollution caused by agricultural sources. The set of measures in these regulations provide a basic level of protection against possible adverse impacts to waters arising from the proposed agricultural expansion under Food Harvest 2020.

Revocations

3. The European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2010 are hereby revoked.

Interpretation

4. (1) In these Regulations, save where the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 1992” means the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 (No. 7 of 1992);

“Agency” means the Environmental Protection Agency established under section 19 of the Act of 1992;

“agriculture” includes the breeding, keeping and sale of livestock (including cattle, horses, pigs, poultry, sheep and any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur), the making and storage of silage, the cultivation of land, and the growing of crops (including forestry and horticultural crops);

“application to land”, in relation to fertiliser, means the addition of fertiliser to land whether by spreading on the surface of the land, injection into the land, placing below the surface of the land or mixing with the surface layers of the land but does not include the direct deposition of manure to land by animals;

“aquifer” means a subsurface layer or layers of rock or other geological strata of sufficient porosity and permeability to allow either a significant flow of groundwater or the abstraction of significant quantities of groundwater;

“biochemical oxygen demand” for the purposes of sub-article (2) (b) (i) means a 5 day biochemical oxygen demand test done in accordance with method ISO 5815-1:2003, International Organisation for Standardization, or any update of that method;

“chemical fertiliser” means any fertiliser that is manufactured by an industrial process;

“dry matter” for the purposes of sub-article (2)(b)(ii) means a test for total solids done in accordance with method 2540B, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health Association, 21st Edition, 2005, or any update of that method;

“eligible area” in relation to a holding and the grassland stocking rate, means the eligible area of the holding or the grassland as appropriate excluding areas under farm roads, paths, buildings, farmyards, woods, dense scrub, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, sandpits, quarries, expanses of bare rock, areas of bogland not grazed, areas fenced off and not used for production, inaccessible areas and areas of forestry (including Christmas trees), or required to be totally destocked under a Commonage Framework Plan;

“farmyard manure” means a mixture of bedding material and animal excreta in solid form arising from the housing of cattle, sheep and other livestock excluding poultry;

“fertiliser” means any substance containing nitrogen or phosphorus or a nitrogen compound or phosphorus compound utilised on land to enhance growth of vegetation and may include livestock manure, the residues from fish farms and sewage sludge;

“groundwater” means all water that is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil;

“holding” means an agricultural production unit and, in relation to an occupier, means all the agricultural production units managed by that occupier;

“livestock” means all animals kept for use or profit (including cattle, horses, pigs, poultry, sheep and any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur);

“livestock manure” means waste products excreted by livestock or a mixture of litter and waste products excreted by livestock, even in processed form;

“local authority” means a city council or county council within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 2001 (No. 37 of 2001);

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government;

“the Nitrates Directive” means Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources;

“occupier”, in relation to a holding, includes the owner, a lessee, any person entitled to occupy the holding or any other person having for the time being control of the holding;

“organic fertiliser” means any fertiliser other than that manufactured by an industrial process and includes livestock manure, dungstead manure, farmyard manure, slurry, soiled water, silage effluent, spent mushroom compost, non-farm organic substances such as sewage sludge, industrial by-products and sludges and residues from fish farms;

“ploughing” includes ploughing and primary cultivation, excluding light culti-vation carried out to encourage natural regeneration;

“relevant local authority” means the local authority in whose administrative area a farm holding or part of a farm holding is situated;

“river basin district” means a river basin district established by the European Communities (Water Policy) Regulations, 2003 ( S.I. No. 722 of 2003 ) or any amendment thereof in relation to the establishment of river basin districts;

“slurry” includes—

(a) excreta produced by livestock while in a building or yard, and

(b) a mixture of such excreta with rainwater, washings or other extraneous material or any combination of these, of a consistency that allows it to be pumped or discharged by gravity at any stage in the handling process but does not include soiled water;

“soil test” means a soil sample taken in accordance with the soil sampling procedure set out in Schedule 1 and analysed in accordance with that Schedule, at a laboratory that meets the requirements of the International organisation for standardisation (ISO);

“soiled water” has the meaning assigned by sub-article (2);

“steep slope” means ground which has an average incline of 20% or more in the case of grassland or 15% or more in the case of other land;

“tidal waters” includes the sea and any estuary up to high water mark medium tide and any enclosed dock adjoining tidal waters;

“waters” includes—

(a) any (or any part of any) river, stream, lake, canal, reservoir, aquifer, pond, watercourse, or other inland waters, whether natural or artificial,

(b) any tidal waters, and

(c) where the context permits, any beach, river bank and salt marsh or other area which is contiguous to anything mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), and the channel or bed of anything mentioned in paragraph (a) which is for the time being dry, but does not include a sewer;

“waterlogged ground” means ground that is saturated with water such that any further addition will lead, or is...