The UK water problem is not going away. Pesticides, nitrates and other agricultural problems have been affecting Britain’s, lakes, rivers and ground-level water-supply for some time now. The country’s water industry has taken a new approach to the problem, embarking on a catchment approach, involving a partnership effort with farmers via an array of schemes, approximately 100 all told, many of benefit to areas of concern other than the water-drinkability issue, such as the problem of area flooding.

One Nuffield Scholarship recipient and Cork dairy farmer, Niall O’Regan, was both heartened and educated when he went to the Dorsett region, as part of the scholarship acquisition process. There, he was able to see the a number of the catchment activities for himself.

Key Takeaways:

• TO’Regan believes that while Ireland stands to benefit from expansion in the dairy sector, it must beware the potential to impinge on water quality.
• Because of this interest, Niall chose as his study topic: “Environment Friendly Farming-Examining the Impact of Dairy Farming on Our Water Quality.
• Protecting and enhancing the national image of Irish dairy farmers as environmentally friendly and sustainable producers of dairy, is key according O’Regan.

“As part of his 2017 Nuffield scholarship, Cork dairy farmer Niall O’Regan travelled to Dorset in southern England to learn about some of the locally led water catchment programmes.”

Read more: https://www.farmersjournal.ie/how-uk-farmers-are-responding-to-water-quality-challenges-378260