epa-river-ireland Irish rivers show decrease in nitrogen levels — The River Shannon

Irish farming organisations have welcomed the news that 2024 saw a substantial decline in nitrogen concentrations in selected rivers.

In its Early Insights Nitrogen Indicator 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that nitrogen levels decreased compared to 2023 on monitoring data at 20 major and representative rivers.

The EPA warned, however, that nitrogen remains too high in the southeastern half of the country, with agriculture being the primary source of nitrogen in these areas.

Jenny Deakin, EPA Programme Manager, commented, “It is very positive to see this improvement in nitrogen levels in 2024, following a period of little positive change in recent years.”

She said further actions would be necessary to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus losses to levels which will support good ecological health in our water bodies.

“The ecology will not improve until nutrient levels are reduced in the areas where they are elevated. The EPA will be reporting on the ecological health of our waters later in 2025,” Ms. Deakin.

IFA Environment Chair John Murphy said that the latest report from the EPA shows nitrogen concentrations levels in 2024 were comparable with 2016 levels.

He continued, “This is the second publication of the early insight report and shows continued reduction in nitrogen concentrations. Typically, the early insights indicator provides a conservative estimate of the likely nitrogen concentrations nationally compared with the full national network data, which historically is typically lower.”

“The report is important and should provide confidence that the measures adopted at farm level by farmers are delivering improvements to water quality, and that the sector is on the right track,” concluded Mr. Murphy.