Before you open EDEN, have the source locations, operator details and measured or estimated volumes ready. Registration is free and can only be done online, in EPA's EDEN portal, through the registration route.
Establish which supply you use
Users supplied by Uisce Éireann or a group water scheme do not need their own abstraction registration or licence. A river intake, lake intake or borehole of your own falls under the thresholds above. Below 25 m³/day, registration is not required, but section 17 of the 2022 Act allows EPA to require a licence below the automatic licensing threshold. Part 2 obligations also apply unless the abstraction is exempt; they include measuring or estimating the daily rate and keeping records of the results.
List every intake and mark each one on the farm plan, so that nothing is missed when you fill in the form.
Two or more abstraction points taking water from the same waterbody for the same person count as a single abstraction. Abstractions from different waterbodies, such as a river and a borehole, must be registered or licensed separately even for the same use or the same person. When preparing the application, count by waterbody, not by the number of pumps.
Record the maximum day and the annual total separately
The EDEN form asks for the maximum volume abstracted in any 24-hour period (m³/day), not the average volume, the total annual volume (m³/annum) and the months in which abstraction takes place. Compare thresholds using the maximum figure; a quiet winter does not lower it.
Example: a source that supplies 30 m³ on a busy irrigation day has taken 30,000 litres that day, whatever the rest of the season looked like. That is above the 25 m³ registration threshold.
Keep the calculation next to the observation. Write down whether the figure comes from a meter or an estimate and name the equipment or method. If readings are incomplete, describe the gap when you prepare an enquiry, and never present an estimate as a meter measurement.
Registration details EPA asks for
EPA's February 2026 application guidance is version 1.3. A registration uses the Organisation, Abstraction Details and Submission sections; the Supplementary Information tab is completed for licence applications only.
- Organisation: the name and address of the natural person or legal entity (sole trader or limited company) carrying out the abstraction; a trading name alone does not identify it.
- Contact: the organisation contact remains required when an agent handles the correspondence.
- Abstraction name, location and purpose: the location is given as an address; the name is the one the scheme is commonly known by in the area.
- Location and purpose: have the Eircode, where there is one, and the date the abstraction started or is proposed to start.
- Points and discharges: for each point, have the grid reference, the waterbody code where one applies, the seasonality and the use, plus details of any water returned.
- Impoundment and other authorisations: describe any structure involved and have the supporting documents to hand.
- Monitoring: the monitoring template is downloaded, completed and uploaded in section 2.5 of the EDEN form.
- Submission: a confirmation email follows the application and is retained for your records.
Select "New Water Abstraction" for an unregistered abstraction and "Water Abstraction Review" for an existing registration. Choose the route that matches the record you actually hold. The EDEN guide includes a validation check; run it before you move on.
Daily readings and how long to keep them
Under Part 2, measure or, where appropriate, estimate the daily rate of abstraction and maintain records of the results of all measurements or estimations. Records of monitoring results must be maintained for three calendar years. For a licensed abstraction, also organise the file around the actual licence conditions.
Use a notebook or spreadsheet that another member of staff can read, with these columns:
- the date and the start and end times of the reading period;
- the abstraction point and the meter used;
- the opening and closing readings, with the units shown on the display;
- the resulting volume, or the word "estimate" and the method used;
- an explanation of any meter replacement, reset, missing reading or unusual pumping;
- who entered the reading, and where the supporting photograph or note is.
Example: a meter reads 1,250 m³ at the start and 1,278 m³ at the end of a stated 24-hour period. The difference is 28 m³, or 28,000 litres. Write both readings and the period beside the calculation. If the interval covered several days, do not call that difference a daily maximum.
Keep one total for the abstraction and separate notes on where the irrigation water went. Use the field, tunnel or glasshouse names from your crop history and link each irrigation entry to its source reading and field.
Check what the meter measures and in which units
Mark each meter on the source plan: only a reading taken at the intake supports the abstraction figure, not one at a storage-tank outlet or an irrigation branch.
If an entry is unreadable, keep the original and add a dated correction saying who resolved it. If an interval is missing, note the gap in your file and ask which estimation method is acceptable. Do not fill blank days by dividing a monthly bill evenly: that would not show the maximum taken on a busy day, and the form asks for the maximum in any 24 hours.
Weather data and abstraction permission
Met Éireann publishes recent observations (soil temperatures, rainfall totals, solar radiation), soil moisture deficit maps, blight warnings and daily farming forecasts. When you decide to water, note the date and place of the weather information you used next to your own crop observations. The forecast helps you plan watering; it does not replace authorisation. A proposed abstraction that requires authorisation cannot start before EPA authorises it.
Keep your spray records in one place. Free to start.
If the supply feeds fertiliser injection, refer to the actual product and application in your fertiliser records. Keep water-quality laboratory reports in a clearly marked section, with the sampled source and the sampling date. When a piece of equipment fails, note the zone affected, the output you saw and the maintenance done. Use the irrigation-nozzle guide when you talk to the installer about flow, pressure and distribution, and keep the meter reading and the proposed nozzle setting in separate columns.
Changes to an abstraction
A proposed new abstraction of 25 m³/day or greater, or any increase to an existing abstraction, must be notified to EPA and cannot commence until authorised. For a new or increased abstraction between 25 and 1,999 m³/day, the assessment to determine whether a licence is required usually takes up to two months. Do not plan the extra pumping into the crop schedule until the decision has arrived.
For an enquiry, have ready the registration number, the source map, the current quantity, the proposed quantity and the reason for the change. Ask EPA which assessment and supporting documents apply, and keep EPA's written decision with the pump instructions.
For portal problems, EDEN Help comes first; an unresolved issue goes in a query through the EDEN Contact Us function. EPA publishes licensing@epa.ie for abstraction-scope enquiries. Describe the specific portal problem and keep the case reference.
Waterbody code of the intake
A waterbody is a unit of surface water or groundwater assigned a unique European code. The codes and the extent of each waterbody are on the EPA water map. A river over its length can be divided into several waterbodies. Check the intake on the map instead of taking a code from the river's local name.
Prepare a marked plan showing the borehole, riverbank intake, lake intake or other source you actually use, with the coordinates and the coordinate system they came from. If an old engineering drawing, a handheld device and the online map put the point in different places, say so and keep the original survey information; do not move the coordinates to fit a preferred boundary.
Separate the source from the pipe route: ask the installer to label the intake, header tank, reservoir, manifold and irrigation branches on a diagram of the real installation, and show any bypass or second supply that affects how the meter reading should be read.
For neighbouring holdings or leased ground, name the person operating each abstraction. Say who owns the land, who runs the pump and who handles correspondence, and ask EPA which registration or licence reference applies to each activity.
Return water and associated impoundments
A discharge associated with an abstraction is water returned to a waterbody, such as cooling water or an exit from a mill race. The application gives summary details of any treatment or change in character, such as temperature, before discharge.
An associated impoundment is a structure, including a dam or weir, situated in the water and maintained for the abstraction, whereby the water level or flow in surface waters or the continuity of the morphological condition is changed.
On the plan, show abstraction points, discharge points, overflow routes and irrigation distribution as separate things. Ask the engineer which features need further assessment. If you are unsure what a feature is, call it uncertain; do not label it from its look. Add photographs from fixed viewpoints and any construction drawing or maintenance note.
If someone else operates an associated structure, name them and the arrangement before you write to EPA, and ask which agreement or application route applies. Occupying the field does not mean you own every structure in or beside it.
For a proposed change, describe the present installation and the intended change separately, and list the gates, screens, channels, pumps and control settings the work touches. File a repair report separately from any request to increase or vary the abstraction.
How the measurement was obtained
Ask the installer what the display shows: an accumulated volume, a flow rate or something else, and how it handles decimal places, a multiplier and rollover. Keep the serial number, location and commissioning note, and take a photograph that shows enough of the meter to tie the reading to the right installation.
If a telemetry system exports readings, find out its time zone, whether a timestamp marks the start or end of an interval, and how outages appear. Keep the unedited export next to the calculation. Flag a duplicated timestamp, an outage or an implausible jump for checking instead of deleting it.
When a meter is replaced, keep the removal reading, the installation reading, both units and the date. Note how long the meter was out and ask which estimation approach is acceptable. If a reading was copied wrongly, keep the original entry and add a dated amendment so the calculation can be rebuilt.
When you estimate, describe the evidence: timed observations, a pump assessment or operating logs. Ask EPA which method and assumptions suit the abstraction, mark the result as an estimate, state the period and keep the calculation. A catalogue pump capacity is not a measured volume. EPA's volume-determination resources are linked from its FAQ.
Check the figures before you enter them
Prepare separate summaries for abstraction at the source and delivery to the crop, naming the meters, periods and places behind each. If the totals differ, look at stored water, unmetered connections, leakage, meter uncertainty and the reading periods.
For glasshouses or tunnels, note which compartments received water and which were empty, under maintenance or on another supply. For outdoor irrigation, note the field and the dates. A water sample taken at a distribution outlet should keep that description when you compare it with a source sample.
Before you enter the figures, have the responsible person check the maximum daily quantity, the annual total and the operating months against the records. Keep the submitted figures and the material behind them. If EPA asks for clarification, name the item and send the corrected calculation through its official process.
Download the monitoring and impoundment attachments from the official process when you prepare the application and check their titles and instructions then. If a field is unfamiliar, ask EPA instead of building a substitute form.
Next step
Work out the maximum daily abstraction and its registration route first. For the equipment side of irrigation, see the irrigation equipment plan.