EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 4. Responses The National River Basin Management Plan 2018- 2021 is the main policy response to improve water quality. Water management in Ireland in the last two decades has focused on implementing the EU Water Framework Directive. In broad terms, the objectives of the Directive are to protect, enhance and restore all bodies of water, with the aim of achieving at least good status, and to comply with the water-related requirements for protected areas such as designated bathing waters, shellfish-growing areas, areas protected for the conservation of species and habitats and areas protected for the abstraction of drinking water. The objectives, and the measures required to achieve them, are set out in national river basin management plans. The government published Ireland’s second National River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) 2018-2021 in April 2018, and this will be followed by a third plan covering the period 2022-2027. The current RBMP identified water bodies that are under significant pressure and prioritised a range of measures to address the impacts on them. Overall, 1460 individual water bodies (30% of the total number) were identified as being at risk of not achieving their environmental objectives because of the damage being caused by significant pressures. Some of the key measures set out in the plan include: n establishing the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) to carry out local catchment assessments to identify water quality issues and potential associated sources and to promote the implementation of mitigation measures to improve water quality at a local level n setting up the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP), which is run by Teagasc and the dairy cooperatives and will provide advice to the farming community on appropriate measures to address water quality issues while working closely with LAWPRO. n establishing the Blue Dot Catchments Programme to ensure the protection of our remaining high status waters and restoration of those whose status has declined n Irish Water investing €1.7 billion in wastewater projects, programmes and asset maintenance. The RBMP includes specific measures for each of the key sectors that are putting pressure on the aquatic environment. These are summarised in Table 7.3. Connecting a community with their catchment, a guided nature walk along the Cunnigar sand spit, a natural feature that extends from An Rinn into Dungarvan Harbour, Waterford. (LAWPRO) 178