According to the UNESCO UN World Water Development Report published in April 2024, “approximately 72% of the freshwater withdrawals globally” are used for agriculture. The quality and availability of freshwater is at risk due to climate change and unsustainable human use.
Water is essential to support all life on earth and critical for our global food system.
In Ireland and the UK, improving water quality is an immediate priority, while we simultaneously plan for future water scarcity and flooding driven by the changing climate. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) underpins an important mechanism for assessing and managing water environments. Water bodies are assigned an ecological status such as “water quality”, which ranges from High to Bad.
The WFD requires EU Member States to achieve at least good status in all surface water and groundwater bodies by 2027.
- In Ireland Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Water Quality Indicator Report 2023 shows that 55% of rivers had High or Good biological quality.
- In 2019 the Environment Agency reported 16% of surface water bodies in England assessed under the WFD Regulations were in High or Good ecological status, and the next update will be in 2025.
- In 2022 the EPA’s State of Scotland’s Water Environment Report reported 67.1% of all water bodies in Scotland assessed under the WFD as having High or Good ecological status, and in 2024 Natural Resources Wales reported 39.9% of water bodies in Wales assessed under the WFD as having High or Good ecological status.
Good or High ecological status is important for sustaining healthy aquatic ecosystems to support abundant communities of fish, insects and plants. Achieving and maintaining at least Good water quality requires planned and coordinated action across agriculture, urban wastewater, industry and forestry.
A water risk assessment has been undertaken of our supply chain in the UK and Ireland, mapping our sourcing volumes and overlaying with risk maps from the WFD to determine priority areas to target in order to have greater impact. Water risk mapping in an evolving practice, requiring more accurate data to reliably track progress over a number of years, and we are engaging with key stakeholders to improve our methodology.
As members of Meat Industry Ireland we are working collaboratively with the red meat sector to support the Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership (FWEIP). In 2023 Teagasc, Dairy Industry Ireland and the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) secured €60 million in funding to drive on-farm improvements in water quality, while also benefiting climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection.
The FWEIP brings a coordinated approach; following catchment science through on-farm advice and the implementation of measures on a localised basis, and the program will run until 2029. The scheme is open to any farmer with land in areas requiring targeted water quality improvements, particularly actions to reduce and manage nitrogen and phosphorus run off. These areas are known as “Priority Areas for Action”.
The Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) programme is a free and confidential advisory service that provides farmers with advice on actions that they can take to minimise their farms impact on water quality. Farms applying for the FWEIP will be provided with a qualified ASSAP Advisor, who will walk their farms, identify matters impacting water quality, develop an improvement plan and help farmers apply for funding to deploy measures.
In the UK, Dunbia are members of WRAP’s Food and Drink Pact, signatories to the Water Roadmap and members of the Water Oversight Panel, collaborating with NGOs, Rivers Trusts, the food and drink sector and local partners to align on a consistent programme of action to improve water efficiency and restore water bodies to a Good ecological status, in order to protect the ecosystems and communities that rely on them.
By 2030, through the UK Food and Drink Pact’s Water Roadmap and through national collective action, we aim to ensure 50% of fresh food is sourced from areas with sustainable water management, improving water security at a catchment scale.
Dunbia is supporting 5 water catchment projects across the UK, including:
- Ribble Rivers Trust in England
- Ayrshire Rivers Trust in Scotland
- WRAP’s Wye and Usk in England and Wales
- Mid Ulster Biorefinery Circular Economy Slurry Project in Northern Ireland
- Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area Landscape Scale Programme “Mussels Project” in England
North Devon Biosphere Mussels Project
West Devon, England
Numbers of mussels were very low in Devon and Cornwall because of poor water quality and people destroying the area the mussels live. Freshwater pearl mussels are now endangered. We donated £2,000 to support the improvement projects including surveying fish in the River Torridge, new captive breeding facilities, and water quality monitoring and building a hatchery to help grow young mussels.
Mussels attach themselves to the gills of young salmon and brown trout. Over 5,000 juvenile mussels have been discovered on the gills of a single fish.
Mauchline Burn Restoration
Highland Meats, Scotland
In collaboration with the Ayrshire Rivers Trust we supported the restoration of the Mauchline Burn, one of Ayrshire’s few remaining natural watercourses, through a large-scale conservation project. The burn, threatened by pollution and erosion, is being revitalized with 625 meters of fencing to protect riverbanks and restore habitats. Green engineering techniques and riparian tree planting will help stabilize the banks, improve water quality, and encourage the return of salmon to the habitat.
Seven Highland Meats volunteers joined the Ayrshire Rivers Trust to plant trees along the burn, in addition to funding support.