Wiping out MCPA
11 April 2025 12:34
NI Water is appealing to all plant protection product users who are treating rushes or weeds at this time of year to take extra care to avoid drips and spills when preparing, applying and disposing of chemicals and when cleaning down equipment in the yard.
NI Water say that some of the ways drips and spills can happen is that after application, they can be washed off the land following heavy rainfall, or by it accidently entering a drain at filling and washing stage in the yard.
NI Water advise that by taking precautions to avoid drips and spills it reduces the amount of plant protection products being used in domestic, amenity or agriculture sites getting into many local rivers and lakes where raw water is extracted from catchment areas to then treat as drinking water.
NI Water catchment officer Becca Allen said: “Our data shows MCPA commonly appears in our watercourses during the main application seasons of April to October. So we know that at this time of the year many farmers will be spraying rushes or other weeds in grasslands, or domestic users will be treating weeds in their gardens. This is frequently done using products containing the broadleaf herbicide MCPA, which is currently one of the main challenges to protecting raw water quality in NI. It is very soluble in water and lingers in the surface water for a long time making it challenging and very costly for NI Water to remove at the water treatment stage. Despite these challenges, NI Water works hard to remove substances like MCPA to provide safe and wholesome drinking water for our customers, and in order to comply with current drinking water standards. However, it would be preferable that plant protection products don’t get into our rivers and lakes in the first place.
“It is also important to remember that MCPA loss from the land represents a financial loss to the farm business in wasted product. It poses a risk to the water environment and the plants and animals that depend on it. We all need to work together to protect our precious drinking water resources.”
NI Water are proud to be members of The Water Catchment Partnership, a proactive group of key stakeholders who are working hard together to combat the issue of pesticide pollution in raw water. It is comprised of the Ulster Farmer’s Union, DAERA, CAFRE, NI Water and the Voluntary Initiative. The work the group has carried out jointly since 2013 has had some great results in driving down MCPA in our watercourses, but there is a lot more work to be done.
Some recent examples of the work NI Water has carried out to help drive down MCPA levels in our drinking water catchments includes trials with the farming community across counties Armagh, Tyrone, Antrim and Derry~Londonderry under NI Water’s ‘Rush Solution Without Pollution’ projects. These innovative trials have so far provided over 300 farmers with a free weed-wiping service to control the rushes growing in their fields, as an alternative to them using MCPA in a boom sprayer.
Similarly the Source to Tap Pilot Land Incentive Scheme, which was funded by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, with match funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) in Ireland and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), offered 100% funding for farmers to avail of weed wiping of rushes in the Derg catchment, upstream of the Water Treatment Works. This trial led to a reduction of MCPA in raw water of at least 25%.
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Media enquiries to the NI Water Press Office via email to press.office@niwater.com