Filling sprayer

hughjohn

Is it illegal to suck water from a river to fill a sprayer or not ?
I have been doing this for years without probs, but getting some dirty looks this year although nobody has said anything.
Unlike when I was hedgecutting on march 2nd , several people yelled out abuse as they drove past.

Bizzum

hughjohn wrote: »

Is it illegal to suck water from a river to fill a sprayer or not ?

No it's not illegal per se. It is illegal to interfere with the flow to such an extent as to kill fish, or to allow deleterious matter into a watercourse, for example as a backwash. It would also be good practice to have a screen so as not to take in fish/fry.
I also came across a good agricultural practice guidelines a while back suggesting that best practice would be not to fill a sprayer directly from a watercourse. This had no legal standing that I'm aware of though.
Legislation does exist prohibiting one from from leaving the likes of used spray containers adjacent to a watercourse. So best do your mixing away from your filling.
It is also illegal to interfere with the passage of fish. So for example making a weir impassable to fish, so you could increase the depth to allow you to abstract water could come under this regulation.
I'm also led to believe that Waterways Ireland will run you if they see you taking water from the canal.
The whole issue of water abstraction is one that is probably going to come under more scrutiny.

pms7

Heard of a guy reported for sucking water with a slurry tanker from a river. Some non-farmer thought he was dumping slurry into the river!