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TidyTowns Waters and Communities Special Award 2019

The Waters and Communities Special Award is now open for applications with a deadline of 17^th May 2019. The Award is run in conjunction with the main SuperValu TidyTowns Awards.

The Waters and Communities Special Award 2019 aims to encourage communities to get more involved with their local waterbodies by helping to preserve, promote and fully use their local natural heritage. Community groups who have shown an appreciation for their water environment and water heritage by engaging in initiatives or projects between June 2018 and May 2019 will be considered – examples include: clean ups; provision or upgrading of amenities; support to biodiversity and heritage; promotion of angling; awareness raising.

The Waters and Communities Award was first introduced in 2017 and is now a regular feature in the TidyTowns calendar. Last year, the overall winner of the award was Abbey TidyTowns, Co. Galway. To read about winners of the Waters and Communities Special Awards see https://www.catchments.ie/tidytowns-waters-communities-special-award/

All applications will be assessed by a panel of judges appointed by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Waterways Ireland and the Local Authority Waters Programme. The judges will assess each application for initiatives undertaken between June 2018 and May 2019 based on the following criteria:

Awareness raising (15 Marks)
Community involvement (20 Marks)
Stakeholder engagement (15 Marks)
Project benefits (40 Marks)
Lessons learned and plans for the future (10 Marks)

The Waters and Communities Award is open to any community group to apply and is sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Waterways Ireland and the Local Authority Waters Programme. The award has a total prize fund of €7,000. The overall winner is presented with prize money of €2,000 at the main TidyTowns awards ceremony. All other winners and runners up will be presented with prize money at the TidyTowns regional awards ceremonies.

How to apply:

The Application form and further details are available on the TidyTowns website www.tidytowns.ie .

Closing date for receipt of entries is 17^th May 2019.

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.