Farmer awareness, attitude to and use of available technologies in the management of Riparian Buffer Zones (RBZ) as a mitigation action for improving water quality

In Ireland, only 54% of water bodies are in satisfactory condition. The European Union require all member states to have 100% of water bodies in satisfactory condition by the year 2027, as part of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC). Agriculture is widely acknowledged as one of the primary contributors to water quality pollution, responsible for almost two thirds of this pollution in Ireland. Riparian Buffer Zones (RBZ) are a known and proven mitigation measure for reducing the level of nutrients entering water bodies, stabilising banks, reducing runoff as well as having many other social and economic benefits. However, in Ireland, the uptake of RBZ is lower than optimum and with little evidence showing an improvement in water quality over the past number of years, an increased uptake of mitigation measures such as RBZ is needed to ensure Ireland gets close to reaching the EU targets of achieving a good status in all of our water bodies by the year 2027. The overall aim of this study is to assess farmers’ awareness of and attitudes towards water quality and the use of Riparian Buffer Zones (RBZ) as a mitigation action, the technologies available for identifying high risk areas on farms, and finally to ascertain the barriers preventing farmers from implementing and enhancing RBZ. The methodology used to collect data from this study was through use of questionnaires, a focus group and semi-structured interviews. This study concluded that while farmers have heard of issues relating to water quality at a national level, they are not aware, nor have acted at a local level to try and improve water quality. Although attitudes among farmers tend to be positive in terms of improving water quality, their actions and general practices speak a different truth, leading to believe that a knowledge gap is present among farmers about how their farm practices can impact water quality i.e. nutrient losses and pathways. The findings suggest that a local or catchment approach is most appropriate for dealing with issues relating to water quality going forward which can enhance peer learning, improve uptake of mitigation measures and improve water quality for the future.