Waters of LIFE are inviting expressions of interest for Year 2 of their Agri-Environmental Programme pilot.

Over 250 farmers have come into the eu-funded programme in the last 6 months, representing 20% of eligible farmers in the project’s five sub-catchments.

Expressions of interest for the programme can be submitted online at www.watersoflife.ie/eoi. The portal will remain open until August 31^st 2025. Programme entry for Year 2 will commence in early 2026 and is funded until 2028.

Click here to register your interest in the Waters of LIFE Pilot Agri-Environmental Programme 

Entry is open to farmers with a herd or tillage number in any of the Waters of LIFE five demonstration sub-catchments.

The Waters of LIFE agri-environmental programme is being piloted to reward farmers for protecting and improving water quality. Farmers receive results-based payments as well as payments for general and supporting actions. Payments for Year 1 farmers have already commenced, including over €37,000 to date for training and knowledge transfer events.

The programme includes a new riverside habitat scorecard for farmers with river frontage. It offers payments of €2000/ha on a 10/10 habitat score for a fenced or uncultivated strip along the river in areas of improved grassland and tillage, up
to a maximum width of 20m.

Click here to download an information booklet for the Waters of LIFE Pilot Agri-Environmental Programme 

Eligible farmers without river frontage are also welcome to enter the programme to receive payments for other habitats and actions.

Of the five active sub-catchments, there are two in Cork. The Shournagh sub-catchment runs south from Donoughmore to Tower along the Shournagh and Sheep Rivers.

In north Cork, the Awbeg (Kilbrin) catchment is between Kanturk and Mallow and includes Castlemagner.

The Islands sub-catchment is in the municipal districts of Roscommon and Ballinasloe Co. Galway. It takes in Ballinlough, Ballymoe, Granlahan and Williamstown.

The Graney sub-catchment is in the municipal districts of Killaloe in Clare and Loughrea in Galway. It is based around Lough Graney and Lough Atorick and the communities of Flagmount, Dromindoora and Caher.

The Avonmore sub-catchment runs from Sallygap to Laragh in the Wicklow uplands around the Glenmacnass, Inchivore and Annamoe rivers.

The Sheen catchment in Co. Kerry is a control catchment and is not included in the programme.

“We’ve been pleased with entry into our programme to date,” says Waters of LIFE project manager Anne Goggin. “We’ve had more than a quarter of eligible farmers sign up in a number of our catchments and there are plenty in the pipeline already for year two. But it’s also about the level of interest in what we are trying to do.

The programme delivers market value rewards for farmers’ land use, but it’s clear that farmers just want to do their bit for nature and water quality.

Conor Roche farms in the Shournagh sub-catchment in Co. Cork. As a Waters of LIFE programme participant, his advice to the project was simple.

“Work with fellas. See what works, what doesn’t work and tell us,” he said. “If we’re doing it wrong, we’ll fix it. We want to stay farming and the regulations aren’t working. I want to know what the water is like right now so I can do something about it.”

Waters of LIFE are also working with RESTORE, a sister project funded by the EPA with a leadership team from Inland Fisheries Ireland and UCD.

RESTORE will detect change and assess the effectiveness of water quality actions in Waters of LIFE sub-catchments actions across agriculture, forestry, hydromorphology, peatland and other pressures.