How to get involved
‘a catchment is a community related by water’
StreamScapes.ie
There are many ways to learn more and start getting involved in looking after your community’s catchment:
Sign up for email updates
- You can sign up for email updates and the Catchments Newsletter using the form on the front page of this website. We will email you a weekly summary with brief highlights if any new stories are added to catchments.ie that week, and we will let you know about key water publications and events.
Local Authority Waters Programme
- Contact the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) and ask them about how their Community Water Officers can help you get started
- Community groups can apply for a grant under LAWPRO’s Community Water Development Fund – see below for more information and examples of successful projects form all around Ireland
- Organise a local water event for Heritage Week and its Water Heritage Day
- You can help LAWPRO design a new water catchment-based community participation framework. LAWPRO have a discussion document about ‘Catchment Management Planning & Catchment Community Fora‘ and you can express your interest in helping to develop this approach here: https://consult.watersandcommunities.ie/en/content/catchment-community-fora-expression-interest-form
An Fóram Uisce
- Learn about An Fóram Uisce – the Water Forum who provide a platform for public engagement on all matters relating to water as an environmental, social and economic resource.
Rivers Trusts, Green Schools, Tidy Towns, spring cleans and Clean Coasts
- Get involved with or set up a Rivers Trust for your area – see our blog by Mark Horton on how to get started and you can learn more on the Rivers Trust website
- Get your primary or secondary school involved in the Green Schools programme
- See if your local Tidy Towns committee is interested in taking part in the Value Water Award
- Organise an annual spring clean of your area
- Get involved with Clean Coasts if you are near the sea
About the Community Water Development Fund
The Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage funds LAWPRO to provide the Community Water Development Fund. This fund supports community groups to enhance the quality of local streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas. The fund has been in place since 2017, with growing interest year on year.
The fund delivers a broad range of water projects that benefit the amenity of local areas. Types of projects approved for funding include:
- Awareness raising initiatives such as river clean ups, biodiversity information boards, citizen science workshops, outdoor classrooms, rainwater harvesting, and enhancement of wetlands.
- Preparation of local plans such as feasibility studies, habitat management plans, ecological surveys, and biodiversity action plans.
- River and habitat enhancement works such as planting of native species and hedgerow, pollinator friendly planting, river-bank stabilisation, fencing and riparian buffer zones.
Grants awarded under the 2023 Community Water Development Fund
Learn more:
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.