What is a catchment, and why should you care?
We all live in ‘catchments’, whether it is the catchment area for a school or hospital, or a catchment area for a local stream, river, lake or coastal water.
For water, a catchment is simply defined as an area of land around a river, lake or other body of water.
Living in a catchment that has healthy water can help a community to have a better quality of life. A healthy water catchment provides high-quality drinking water and supports livelihoods such as agriculture, recreational angling and water sports. It also supports local ecosystems so plants, animals, fish and insects that depend on having healthy water can thrive and flourish.
The Catchments Newsletter highlights the latest catchment science and also has stories from local communities around Ireland who are working to protect or restore water quality. You can sign up to receive the Newsletter using the form at the top of the page. All past issues are available to download at the link below.
‘a lively and engaging science magazine’ – Michael Viney, The Irish Times
Find out more