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Conference: Building Water Resilience – Connecting Policy, Action and Communities

The Water Forum – An Fóram Uisce will welcome Henk Ovink, Executive Director of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and Veronica Manfredi, Director at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment, as keynote speakers at its national conference, Building Water Resilience – Connecting Policy, Action and Communities, on Thursday, 12^th November 2026, at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Co. Offaly.

Building Water Resilience Tullamore Court Hotel

The opening session will set the European and national policy context, with Henk Ovink discussing a landscape approach to the water cycle, Veronica Manfredi outlining the EU Water Resilience Strategy, and a perspective from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Bringing together leading European and national voices, policymakers, practitioners and community representatives, the conference will examine how Ireland can respond to growing pressures on its water resources and turn policy into practical action.

The focus will then shift to action on the ground, showcasing approaches to nature-based solutions, river restoration, agricultural catchment management and urban wastewater management, and considering how successful initiatives can be scaled up.

The afternoon will highlight the role of people and communities in protecting water, with contributions on source water protection, Catchment Community Fora and citizen science.

Following strong interest in the conference, a limited number of additional places have been opened for registration. Advance registration is required.

View the conference programme and register here.

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 River Basin Management Service.

River Basin Management Service

The River Basin Management Service 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.