The second phase of the CatchmentCARE Community Incentive Scheme (CIS) has been launched to support cross border river catchment improvement projects in the rivers Arney, Blackwater and Finn. Project funding of up to €25,000 is available through the CIS to support communities who are interested in looking after their

A new CatchmentCARE paper sets out to illustrate the environmental and economic benefits of agricultural diversification to biomass crops and poses the question as to whether we should be implementing a strategic plan to facilitate the planting of this versatile crop. The paper uses a case study from a waste water treatment works in Bridgend,

The CatchmentCARE website contains a new feature – The CatchmentCARE Map Gallery. The Map Gallery presents a collection of maps, story maps and apps for the CatchmentCARE Project and allows users to access lake, groundwater and river water quality data for the cross border catchments of the Arney, Blackwater and Finn. The Gallery also contains

A variety of exciting community based training programmes is being rolled out for local groups across the three catchment areas. Local community groups indicated they would benefit from training in standardised water assessment and survey techniques, to produce baseline evidence and to target action plans for the improvements of rivers and water bodies in their

Blackwater Catchment Officer Tom Woods has been developing and delivering Riparian and In-Stream works around the Ballygawley area of the Catchment, which suffers badly from silt deposition / runoff and excessive nutrient loading. Tom has been working with local landowners and farmers to draw up agreements for accessing river sites on private land, as well

With river catchments throughout Ireland suffering from increasing levels of pollution, a recent cross border seminar explored the benefits of using nature-based solutions for Water Quality Protection. The event in Dundalk  explored the benefits of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) Willow Planting and aimed to assess stakeholder interest & commitment to the principle of SRC and

The CatchmentCARE team has been helping with the ‘Source to Tap’ project in the Derg Catchment in Donegal and Tyrone to get a better understanding of how the herbicide MCPA is getting into local rivers. Two groundwater-monitoring stations are to be installed in the region, but the type of geology there makes it difficult to

To understand what part groundwater plays in the Arney catchment, a spring monitoring programme is underway. Monitoring springs is a good way to find out about the aquifer the water flows through underground before emerging at the spring. Measuring water chemistry and quality provides information about the catchment feeding the spring, both above and below

Projects funded under the CatchmentCARE Community Incentive Scheme (CIS) are now having an impact on local communities throughout the Arney, Blackwater and Finn catchment areas. The CIS helps local communities contribute to the improved management of their river catchments and was open to a wide variety of organisations including volunteer groups, community groups, NGOs, schools