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Home News €30,000 in Grants Awarded for Water Heritage Day Events Nationwide

€30,000 in Grants Awarded for Water Heritage Day Events Nationwide

Funding awarded for events celebrating our waterbodies this National Heritage Week.

The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), working on behalf of Ireland’s 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality, is awarding €30, 665.25 in funding for 82 events in 24 counties under the ‘Water Heritage Day Grants Scheme 2025’.

Under the grants scheme, local communities and groups were invited to apply for financial assistance to support the delivery of events and initiatives celebrating Water Heritage Day on Sunday, 24th August.

Water Heritage Day celebrates water throughout Ireland, its history and heritage and our connections with it. Examples of projects approved for funding this year include:

Monasterevin Blueway Kayaking Club are hosting a ‘Paddle Through the Past – A Heritage Kayaking Tour’ in Co. Kildare.
Rathmullan Tidy Towns are hosting a ‘Beach Walk & Talk’ an exploration of nature on the seashore and sand dunes, discovering native plants & species’ in Co. Donegal.
Camross Tidy Towns are hosting a workshop at the Aquatic Outdoor Classroom in Camross community park, exploring the Little Delour river in Co. Laois.
Cahersivenn Tidy Towns are hosting an event around the Fertha river and its significance to the Cahersiveen area and wider Iveragh peninsula in Co. Kerry.
Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark are hosting an event to raise awareness of the Artic char existence in Lough Mask and the threat of extinction in Co. Galway.

Two people standing near a small river or stream with buildings and trees in the background. — Minister of State with responsibility for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD with Ellen Murphy LAWPRO Community Water Officer for Cork at the start of Heritage Week events at the River Bandon on Saturday 16^th August 2025.

Minister of State with responsibility for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD welcomed this announcement: “The Water Heritage Day Grants Scheme gives communities and groups across Ireland the opportunity to organise events that celebrate and raise awareness about their local waterbodies. This grants scheme is an investment in the protection and restoration of good water quality nationwide.
It allows people to create connections with their rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands and coastal waters in new and innovative ways. For example, in Cork, a grant award of €350 will support Wise Water Academy’s event celebrating the River Bandon.”

Held in partnership with The Heritage Council, Water Heritage Day takes place as part of National Heritage Week 2025, which runs from 16th to 24th August. The theme of Heritage Week 2025 is “Exploring Our Foundations”.

As part of the Heritage Week there are awards for events held throughout the week. If you are holding a Water Heritage Day event you can submit your event to be considered for a Water Heritage Award.

Learn more:

More information on the awards can be found here: www.heritageweek.ie/awards

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.