64 February 2015
Meat
causes
ooding
And drainage to
increase the speed of
water flowing from the
land and through the
rivers has increased
the propensity of our
towns to flooding.
By Cathal O’Meara
L
ANDSCAPES that support extensive
meat and dairy farming are dra-
matically damaging our rivers and
contributing to flooding in our towns
and cities. Globally livestock accounts for
70% of all our agricultural landscapes
and contributes more greenhouse gasses
(18%) than the entire transport sector
(12%). However, our livestock-domi-
nated landscapes are having their most
significant impacts not on climate but on
our rivers and watercourses.
Current flood-relief schemes in Ireland
appear to exemplify a linear pattern of
thinking about watercourses. Recently
completed schemes in Fermoy and
Mallow, on the Munster Blackwater,
treat the towns in isolation from the
catchment of the rivers that periodically
flood them.
This, however, is addressing the
symptoms without considering the
cause, of flooding. Landscape policies
that encourage and subsidise livestock
are compounding flooding nationally,
remains rarely discussed, the opposi-
tion cowed.
Soil compaction, and faecal matter r un-
off due to overgrazing and overstocking
in the Blackwater Valley
Much of our uplands are maintained
in a state of arrested ecological devel-
opment where grazing, often combined
with annual burning of the vegetation, is
used to retard the development of vegeta-
tion that is unwelcome (from a livestock
perspective). This is despite the fact
that the productivity of these lands is
so marginal as to render them unwork-
able without grant aid. Often vegetation
in these uplands remains below half a
metre tall for the limited grazing benefit
of sheep (and deer).
Policies that promote cattle or dairy
cows on better-quality “improved” land
prevent us from realising the potential
of a sustainable forestry policy. A recent
study undertaken by the Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology in Wales found
that: “Water sinks into the soil under
trees at 67 times the rate at which it sinks
into the soil under grass”.
A series of studies undertaken by vari-
ous bodies including the Department of
Environment and Cork County Council
concerning the water quality of the
Blackwater River, as well as similar
work undertaken by the Department for
Environment in Britain all come to the
same conclusion that “animal trampling”
(soil compaction) and “intensive cattle
grazing” pose a risk to the “riparian areas
and to the water channel itself”. The risk
is multifaceted and includes intensified
sedimentation from increased runoff of
rainwater due to soil compaction and also
from increased nutrient content within
the water itself from the faecal matter
of cows, leading to eutrophication of
the water. Recent Cryptosporidium out-
breaks nationally highlight the dangers
of untreated human and animal waste.
There is a further complication with
livestock due to the growth of maize to
supplement the diet of cows and cattle.
Maize, which is increasingly being grown
here, is harvested in the autumn - leaving
the soil bare during its most critical time,
the winter months. Without vegetation
there is little capacity for the soil to retain
water and the winter rains wash the sed-
iment into the rivers. A 1998 Study by
Morgan et al estimates that this loss of
soil can be as significant as several tonnes
per hectare, per year.
Drainage schemes throughout river
catchments in Ireland complete this
picture. The remit of the Office of Public
Works (OPW) under the 1945 Drainage
Act empowered it to carry out drainage of
agricultural land. Under the 1995 Act the
OPW was charged with the protection of
urban areas subject to flooding. However,
both of these issues arise from the same
logical fallacy. The desire to increase the
speed of water flowing from the land and
through the rivers has increased the pro-
pensity of our towns to flooding.
Recent inspiring projects are being
undertaken internationally that aim to
slow down the speed of water flowing
through our landscapes, seeking instead
water-attenuating solutions. ‘Room for
the River’ is a Dutch Government pro-
gramme that seeks space to allow the
callows and lowlands to flood. ‘Adaptive
Land Use for Flood Alleviation’ in France
seeks to create sacrificial wetland land-
scapes upstream of Paris on the River
Seine to prevent downstream flooding.
How can we use these concepts for rein-
vigorating r ural Ireland? Perhaps we need
just to look to Mayo where the success of
the recently completed Greenway pro-
vides inspiration. We could add to this a
network of campsites, horse-riding bridle
paths and walking trails along our river
valleys. Our growing agri-food sector and
craft breweries would benefit from this
expansion of rural tourism.
We could go further and reintroduce
the wolf, ensuring not only increased
rural tourism but also increased bio-
logical diversity, as the wolves would
maintain the deer populations at sus-
tainable levels. We could also combine
this with agriculture looking instead to
different models of lower-intensity sil-
vopastoralism and locally-grown organic
production instead of a one-size fits all
beef or dairy model.
However to do this we may first need
to challenge the sacred cow in Irish agri-
culture. •
Cathal O’Meara is a chartered landscape
architect and runs the practice
www.cathalomeara.com
ENVIRONMENT COWS
Animal
trampling
and intensive
cattle grazing
pose risks for
rivers – of
intensified
sedimentation
and increased
nutrients
from cattle
faeces leading
to eutro-
phication
and Crypto-
sporidium
“
Soil compaction, and
faecal matter runoff due to
overgrazing and overstocking
in the Blackwater Valley