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2018 Award Winners Abbey TidyTowns, County Galway.

Abbey TidyTowns won the overall 2018 Waters & Communities Special Award. They have been very concerned about their river and the continuous growth of algae and lack of fish in the river. During 2017 and the first half of 2018 they raised awareness, linking with relevant bodies like Galway County Council, the LA Waters Programme, and Inland Fisheries Ireland.

Abbey TidyTowns helped get the local Community Employment Scheme involved in cleaning up the river, organised a public meeting, and talked to local school children and scout groups about the biodiversity of the river, and their own impacts on water quality. They invited Inland Fisheries Ireland to do electrofishing on the section of river that flows through their village.

Abbey TidyTowns received funding from Galway County Council’s Local Agenda 21 for a biodiversity mural on a wall in their sensory garden, beside the river. The mural explores and illustrates the importance of water quality. It shows species that can be sighted regularly on local rivers, and the life cycle of native trout.

Sheevaun Thompson, LA Waters Programme

Learn more:

http://www.tidytowns.ie

www.watersandcommunities.ie

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.