The Irish Farmers' Association has criticised the finding of a report which has recommended strict new control on farming in the Lough Ree and Lough Derg catchment areas of the Shannon river.
The report, which will be officially published next week, has stated that agriculture accounted for half of the phosphate entering the waterways in certain risk areas.
It has recommended that local authorities should make new bye-laws in areas of counties Cavan, Clare, Galway, Leitrim. Longford, Tipperary, Offaly and Roscommon to protect the river.
According to a report in the Irish Farmers' Journal, which has been sponsored by the Department of the Environment, £30 million would be needed to address the farmyard problems in the priority risk areas.
The report has recommended the introduction of very tight controls on the storage and spreading of slurry and that medium-sized pig and poultry farms not yet subject to environmental licensing should be required to prepare nutrient management plans.
It also recommended that landowners should not be allowed accept pig or poultry slurry for spreading except in accordance with approved nutrient management plans.
Last night, the IFA national environment committee chairman, Mr Aidan Larkin, criticised the report for failing to take adequate account of the full extent of phosphorous losses from natural background and septic tanks in rural areas.