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Community Water Development Fund 2025

The Community Water Development Fund (CWDF) is a grants scheme to enable community
driven projects that will help improve water quality. The fund has been in existence since 2018 when it awarded €180,000 and has grown to €702,000 worth of awards in 2024.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and LAWPRO have launched the 2025 Community Water Development Fund Open Call (CWDF). The fund supports communities to deliver positive actions for water quality, protection and awareness through community grants.

In the 2024 funding call, over €700,000 grant aid was awarded to 155 water quality projects. The fund is open to all community and voluntary groups to help in the protection and management of water quality, both locally and in the wider catchment. Interested community and voluntary groups can download the guidelines and complete the grant application form online at lawaters.ie with a deadline of 20 November 2024.

“The Water Action Plan is a further significant step towards protecting water quality across our island. It is LAWPRO’s role to support regional implementation of the ‘right measure in the right place’ on a catchment level. We ensure a consistency in approach to water quality measures across all local authorities in Ireland. Under the Water Action Plan, the Community Water Development Fund was reviewed and recommendations will be implemented in 2025. The small-scale projects application process has been streamlined and we will welcome applications for grant aid of up to €5,000 throughout the year. Medium to large scale water quality projects will be targeted where they are needed the most and we invite applications under the current Open Call.”
Anthony Coleman Director of Services at LAWPRO

“We are delighted to give local communities and groups throughout Ireland the opportunity to make a positive impact on the streams, rivers and lakes in their local areas. The Fund will support the implementation of the Water Action Plan 2024 by raising awareness and improving waterbodies nationwide. Community engagement is an important element in the success of the Plan, with the benefits of increased public participation being recognised through the strengthening of the Community Water Development Fund up to 2027.”

Minister of State for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, TD

“We are delighted to introduce the Community Water Development Fund for 2025, which funds local community projects to enhance their local streams, rivers and lakes. This work will play an important role in the Water Action Plan, focusing on the participation of the public in water quality and biodiversity.”
Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Alan Dillon TD

Some changes have been introduced to the Fund for 2025:

Minimum grant award of €5,000 (increased from €1,000).
Maximum grant award of €50,000 or more subject to procurement (increased from €25,000)
Types of projects: This fund welcomes applications from organisations who are planning projects that demonstrate direct water quality actions.

The Fund is administered by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Fund is open to eligible applicants in the Republic of Ireland only.

The Fund will help meet the objectives of the recently launched Water Action Plan 2024. The Water Action Plan sets out the measures that are necessary to protect and restore water quality in Ireland under the EU
Water Framework Directive up to 2027. One of the principles to help achieve improved water quality over the next four years is improvements in water quality delivering multiple benefits for biodiversity, climate change and local communities.

Learn More:

All information must be received before Wednesday, 20th November 2024. The portal will close at 12 noon.

Community Water Development Fund Grant Application Form 2025 | Online Consultation Portal of the Waters and Communities Office

You can view grants awarded in previous years on this map:

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.