Water Protection

The Sustainable Use Directive establishes, amongst other things, rules at a European level to reduce the risks to the environment that are associated with pesticide use. Central to this is the requirement to maintain the high quality of one of our most valuable resources, our water.

Pesticide Users are obliged, at all times, to take appropriate measures to protect water. Users must always read and follow the product label and must comply with buffer zones, as indicated. They are also required to comply with safeguard zones around drinking water. These safeguard zones are identified in the document below.

Guidance for Sprayer Operations (pdf 172Kb) 

Improve biodiversity and drinking water quality with results based agri-environment schemes (pdf 80Kb)  

Protecting Drinking water from Pesticides - Advice for Gardeners and Household Users (pdf 819Kb)          

Protecting Drinking water from Pesticides - Advice for Farmers and Other Professional Users (pdf 1,406Kb)             

Protecting Drinking Water from Pesticides - Herbicide Use in Grassland (pdf 1,301Kb)         

Safeguard zone requirements for defined types of water sources - September 2019 (pdf 343Kb)             

STRIPE - Surface Water Tool for Reducing the Impact of Pesticides in the Environment 

Container Disposal (pdf 944Kb)            

Information Note – Managing Rushes (pdf 140Kb)     

Managing rushes-graphic (pdf 393Kb)     

National Pesticides and Drinking Water Action Group

Links to other resources:

Teagasc

Environmental Protection Agency

Cork County Council