The Characterisation and Analysis of Ireland’s River …

1 The Characterisation and Analysis ofIreland s River Basin Districtsin accordance with Section 7(2 & 3) of the European Communities(Water policy ) Regulations 2003 (SI 722 of 2003 )National Summary Report ( ireland )2005 FOREWORDThis Summary Characterisation and Analysis Report marks the completion of tasks assigned to thecompetent authorities in ireland responsible for implementing the Water Framework Directive(2000/60/EC). These tasks have been set out in Sections 7(2) and 7(3) of the European Communities(Water policy ) Regulations 2003 (SI 722 of 2003 ), which transpose the Water Framework Directive intoIrish legislation. By 22nd December 2004 the following were completed for each River Basin District inIreland and a summary report submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency:(a) An Analysis of its characteristics(b) A review of the impact of human activity on the status of surface waters and of groundwater, and(c) An economic Analysis of water useThe designated competent authorities in ireland prepared a single combined National SummaryCharacterisation Report for the purpose of reporting by the statutory deadline of 22nd December report was intended to provide an opportunity for public and stakeholder comment prior tocompletion and submission to the European Commission on 22nd March 2005 by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency.

2 This report represents the completion of this process and is largely based on theDecember report together with additional data collected for the report submitted to the EuropeanCommission on 22nd March 2005. Comments and submissions received on the December 2004 report aresummarised in Section of Chapter One. The accompanying maps and background documents referred to in this report are available on completion of this initial Characterisation and Analysis task now provides us with the firm baselinenecessary to begin the next phase of the process of River basin management aimed at achieving "goodstatus" for all waters by Environmental Protection Agency and The River Basin District coordinating authoritiesCarlow County Council (South Eastern River Basin District), Cork County Council (South Western River Basin District),Donegal County Council (North Western International River Basin District),Dublin City Council (Eastern River Basin District),Galway County Council (Western River Basin District),Limerick County Council(Shannon International River Basin District)

3 ,Monaghan County Council (Neagh Bann International River Basin District),On behalf of all local iii[ The Characterisation and Analysis of ireland s River Basin Districts ]TABLE OF CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY .. PURPOSE OF THIS Characterisation REPORT .. OVERVIEW OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE .. TRANSPOSITION OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE INTO IRISH LEGISLATION AND IMPLEMENTATIO .. Legislation Transposing the WFD into Irish Law .. Legislation Transposing the WFD into Northern Irish Law .. River Basin Management Projects .. National Coordination Group (NCG) .. National Technical Coordination Group.. Technical Sub-groups .. River BASIN DISTRICTS WITHIN ireland .. INTERNATIONAL River BASIN DISTRICTS .. Characterisation REPORT .. Register of Protected Areas .. FORMAT AND SCHEDULE .. EU Commission Reporting Requirements.

4 Reporting the Impact of Human Activities .. Overall Characterisation Reporting Schedule .. Submissions on Characterisation Report .. Submissions received .. Summary of Submissions and Responses .. Further information .. OF River BASIN DISTRICT CHARACTERISTICS .. GROUNDWATERS .. Physical Characterisation .. Location and boundaries of the groundwater bodies .. Description of groundwater bodies .. Description of groundwater bodies .. Groundwater bodies for which there are directly dependent surface water ecosystems or terrestrial ecosystems .. SURFACE WATER (RIVERS, LAKES, TRANSITIONAL AND COASTAL WATERS .. Characterisation of surface water body types .. Type-specific reference conditions and maximum ecological potential .. Reference network for water body types with highecological status.)

5 Identification of water bodies .. Identification of Artificial and Heavily Modified Water Bodies .. REGISTER OF PROTECTED AREAS .. Areas designated for the abstraction of water intendedfor human consumption .. Areas designated for the protection of economically significantaquatic species (fish, shellfish .. Areas designated as recreational and bathing waters .. Nutrient-sensitive areas .. Areas designation for the protection of habitats (including birds) ..45page REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY .. DENTIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES .. Overview .. Step 1 Identification of Human Pressures .. Step 2 Risk Assessment of Human Pressures .. Significant pollution pressures on surface waters .. RBMP Cycle .. GROUNDWATER RISK ASSESSMENTS .. Overview of Groundwater Risk Assessments.)

6 Groundwater Risk Assessments Results .. Identification of groundwater bodies for which lower objectives are to be specified .. River RISK ASSESSMENTS .. Overview of River Risk Assessments .. River Risk Assessment Results .. LAKE RISK ASSESSMENTS .. Overview of Lake Risk Assessments .. Lake Risk Assessment Results .. TRANSITIONAL & COASTAL RISK ASSESSMENTS .. Overview of Transitional and Coastal Risk Assessments .. Transitional and Coastal Risk Assessment Results .. UNCERTAINTIES & DATA GAPS .. Key Data Gaps .. Monitoring Proposals .. Further Characterisation .. ARTIFICIAL & HEAVILY MODIFIED WATER BODIES .. IDENTIFICATION OF AWBS & HMWBS .. ESTABLISHMENT OF GEP FOR AWBS & HMWBS .. ECONOMIC Analysis OF WATER USE .. INTRODUCTION .. OVERVIEW OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF WATER USE.

7 Economic Impacts of Water Users .. Values of Water Resources .. ASSESSMENT OF COSTS AND COSTS RECOVERY OF WATER SERVICES .. Financial Costs and Costs Recovery for Water Services .. Environmental/Resource Costs .. PROJECTIONS OF DEMAND, SUPPLY CAPACITY, AND COSTS OF WATER SERVICES .. Projected Water Demand .. Future Supply Capacity of Water Services .. Projected Costs of Water Services .. SUMMARY OF WORK COMPLETED TO ESTABLISH BASELINE SCENARIO .. INFORMATION TO SUPPORT FUTURE Analysis .. AND CONCLUSIONS .. OVERVIEW OF IDENTIFICATION OF WATER BODIES 'AT RISK' .. Groundwater bodies for which lower objectives are to be specified .. Waterbodies at risk from hydromorphological pressuresand their further consideration as AWBs or HMWBs .. OF THE ECONOMIC Analysis OF WATER USE .. UNCERTAINTIES, DATA GAPS AND NEXT STEPS.

8 148page v[ The Characterisation and Analysis of ireland s River Basin Districts ]EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis initial Characterisation and Analysis Report represents a further important milestone for ireland inimplementing the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework forCommunity action in the field of water policy ). The Directive has already been transposed into nationallegislation (the European Communities (Water policy ) Regulations 2003 , No. 722 of 2003 ). The EUCommission has been provided with information on the competent authorities and a description of thegeographical coverage of each River Basin District (RBD) within ireland , including four national andthree international RBDs. The process has involved extensive and detailed collaboration between a widerange of public authorities in collating the substantial body of existing datasets.

9 A significant number ofnew datasets have also been generated through commissioned work and research designated competent authorities in ireland prepared a single National Summary CharacterisationReport and submitted it to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the statutory deadline of 22ndDecember 2004, in compliance with 722 of 2003 . Public and stakeholder comment was invited up to16th February 2005 prior to finalisation and submission to the European Commission on 22nd March 2005by the Environmental Protection Agency. This report represents the conclusion of this process and islargely based on the December report together with additional data collected for the report submitted tothe European Commission on 22nd March 2005. Comments and submissions received on the December2004 report are summarised in Chapter One. This report provides an Analysis of the characteristics of River basin districts, undertakes a review of theimpact of human activity on the status of waters and provides an economic Analysis of water use inaccordance with the requirements of Article 5 of the Directive.

10 The report serves as a comprehensiveassessment of all waters (groundwater, rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters), establishes a baselineand identifies priority actions for subsequent stages in the River basin planning cycle. All waters have been grouped into types( different types of lakes) and further divided into individualmanagement units called water bodies. The identified range of individual water bodies includes 757groundwater, 4,468 River , 210 lake (above 50 hectares), 196 transitional and 113 coastal water Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems (GWDTE) or Groundwater Dependent Surface Waters(GWDSW) have been found to be associated with 266 of the above groundwater conditions established for each surface water type describe unimpacted conditions and,together with an EU-wide intercalibration exercise, will provide the basis for establishing classificationsystems for surface waters in baseline risk assessment of human pressures and impacts on all water bodies is presented.