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A total of €523,000 – through 142 individual grants – has been awarded from the Community Water Development Fund, to support local community efforts to enhance water quality in streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas around the country.
The fund is administered by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) with funding provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The funding follows the 2023 open call that saw 142 successful applications from across the country. First introduced in 2018, this fund supports the delivery of projects and initiatives by local communities and groups that aim to enhance local water bodies to benefit water quality, biodiversity, and communities. The number of applications received by LAWPRO has increased steadily since the grant scheme was first introduced.
Commenting on the announcement the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, said:
“These Community Water Development Fund grants will support local communities and groups to deliver projects that enhance the quality of local streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas. The fund is a fantastic support to encourage communities to take positive actions for water quality and biodiversity in their local area and recognises the great local initiatives led by communities to take care of water bodies in their local area.”
The total amount sought in 2023 was twice the grant amount available. This has been an ongoing trend in recent years and is considered a good indication of the growth in the number of community groups developing and leading on projects that enhance the quality of local water bodies.
Commenting on the 2023 applications, Anthony Coleman, Director of LAWPRO said:
“The standard of applications was very high this year and we were delighted to see the scale of ambition and enthusiasm from local activists throughout the country. Congratulations to those great projects who have been awarded a grant and to those who were not successful this time, I would encourage you to maintain contact with your local Community Water Officer, to keep developing new proposals and projects, and to apply when the next round of funding is available.”
Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Kieran O’Donnell, said:
“I welcome the collaborative approach led by the department, the Local Authority Waters Programme, and all 31 local authorities with relevant State agencies, other stakeholders and local communities with the shared goal of meeting the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive to have all natural waters at a good standard by 2027. This year we’ve seen Tidy Towns Committees, Community Groups, Scouts and GAA clubs awarded funding through this scheme to make improvements to their local waters and it’s heartening to see such strong representation from throughout all of our local authorities.”
Types of projects approved for funding this year include:
This year, an additional €20,000 was awarded as part of the Blue Dot Catchments Programme. The Blue Dot Award for 2023 was shared between two groups; IRD Duhallow in County Cork and Camross Tidy Towns, Co. Laois. Blue Dots are catchments which are mostly unpolluted and contain Ireland’s best quality waters.
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, added:
“I want to congratulate IRD Duhallow and Camross Tidy Towns as they share the Blue Dot Award and commend all the successful applicants who will receive funding, and delivering our targets under UN Sustainable Development Goal 6- Clean Water and Sanitation. Healthy, clean water is essential not just to communities but to sustain the plants and animals that depend upon sustainably managed water.”
Full details of grants awarded are available online.
LAWPRO was set up in 2016 as a shared service on behalf of the 31 Local Authorities in Ireland. The Programme operates nationally out of 13 different Local Authority centres. LAWPRO drives public engagement, participation and consultation with communities and stakeholders at local level via its Communities Team; delivers a programme of catchment assessment in priority areas for action via its Catchment Science Team and it coordinates these activities across the relevant public sector via five Regional Operational Committees.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires member states to ‘encourage the active involvement of all interested parties in the implementation of this Directive’. On this basis, a key component of Irelands approach to water management is community engagement, which aims to create a broader understanding of the issues impacting on local water bodies and to identify local groups interested in improving the condition of the water environment. Achieving the aims of the WFD require active involvement of local authorities and other public bodies, water users and local communities.
A key function of LAWPRO is to promote public participation by providing information, organising and facilitating public consultations, meetings and events at local level, engaging communities to increase their involvement in water management and building the necessary relationships with relevant stakeholders at local level. Our team of Community Water Officers have built up a growing number of interested community groups via this annual Community Water Development Fund; supporting and hosting local events and have just completed an extensive public consultation on the draft River Basin Management Plan 2022-2027 for Ireland. They report to their Regional Operational Committees and are embedded in the water environment at community and operational level.
Blue Dots are rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters that have high status as their objective. They have a history of being mostly unpolluted. They are generally the best quality waters in the country and in need of our protection and restoration. There has been a nearly 50% decline in the number of high status river sites since 1990.
The Blue Dot Catchments Programme is a collaborative programme being delivered by a range of agencies as a means of focusing attention and resources towards the protection and restoration of our high status objective waters. The programme also endeavours to raise awareness amongst land managers and state bodies on the sensitivity of these waters. A key measure in the Ireland’s River Basin Management Plan 2018-2021, the work of the Blue Dot Catchments Programme is delivered by a Blue Dot Steering Group.
To further support this work, an EU funded Waters of LIFE project commenced in 2022 Waters of LIFE - Waters of Life. It is a €20 million project aiming to reverse the long-term trend of decline in Ireland’s ‘high status’ waters.