Welcome to Catchments.ie - Water from source to sea.

catchments.ie  shares science and stories about Ireland’s water catchments, and people’s connections to water.

For water, a catchment is simply defined as an area of land that drains into 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.

Water quality and quantity in Ireland is monitored and assessed under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD is implemented through River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs).

This website is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

About the WFD

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    This site has been developed, and is hosted and maintained, by the Environmental Protection Agency.

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    Sharing science and stories about Integrated Catchment Management in Ireland. Integrated Catchment Management is a community-led approach that aims to involve people and groups from across society.

    • 46

      Catchments

    • 583

      Subcatchments

    • 4842

      Waterbodies
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    New map - Targeting Agricultural Measures

    A farmer-friendly EPA Map on Targeting Agricultural Measures is now available, which has key information that will help farmers and other landholders understand their local water quality and where action needs to be taken. It has layers with information on:

    • Water Quality Status and Monitoring Stations
    • Targeting Agricultural Measures – this layer shows which actions by farmers have the greatest potential to improve water quality for each area in the country. Where agricultural measures are needed to restore water quality, one or more colours indicate the types of water quality issues in that area:
      • Navy – Phosphorus/Sediment losses
      • Navy and Orange: Phosphorus/Sediment and Nitrate losses
      • Orange: Nitrate losses
      • Red, Orange and Navy– Point Source, Nitrate and Phosphorus/Sediment losses
      • White: Protect measures
    • Pollution Impact Potential Maps for Nitrogen/Freely draining soils
    • Pollution Impact Potential Maps for Phosphorus/Heavy soils
    • You can access this map here: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/agriculture
    • If you want to learn more you can watch a Teagasc Signpost Seminar on Water quality and agriculture – challenges and opportunities on YouTube.

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    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

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    How to get involved with your local catchment and make a difference today

    ‘a catchment is a community related by water’ – StreamScapes.ie

    While understanding what is affecting our catchments and waterbodies can help us manage them, experience from projects in Ireland and around the world has shown that local community involvement is one of the keys to long-term success.

    There are many ways for individuals or local communities to get involved – this can be anything from organising a Spring Clean of a riverbank once a year, getting your local Tidy Towns committee to look at how your river or lake can help your town become a nicer place to live, or even establishing a Rivers Trust or locally led agri-environment scheme

    The LA Waters Programme has Community Water Officers based all around Ireland and you can contact them for help with getting your community involved. Funding is also available under the Community Water Development Fund.

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    Latest News

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    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.

    LAWCO

    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.

    EPA

    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.

    DECLG

    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.