On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference. This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'. This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending. To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together. Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened. For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie

1. Working With Local Communities To Protect The Maigue
Tom Harrington
Maigue Rivers Trust
www.maigueriverstrust.ie
info@maigueriverstrust.ie

2. Adare
River Maigue Catchment
Source: EPA Maps
Priority Area for Action • Sub catchment of Lr. Shannon.
•1020 km2
•Lowland Co. Limerick.
•Limestone geology.
•Highly productive ecology.
•Intensive, grass-based
agriculture.
•Formerly important spring
salmon river
•Brown Trout fishery
•Camogue PAA

3. River Waterbody WFD Status 2013-2018
Majority of the 33 monitoring points have Moderate or Poor
WFD status and have an “Unsatisfactory Condition”.
Two sites improved, 7 declined since the last assessment, rest
unchanged.
Environmental issues in the Maigue Catchment
1. Unsatisfactory water quality caused by nutrient pollution
• Main pressures-agriculture and UWWTPs

4. 2. Invasive plants and animals
Giant Hogweed infests much of main
channel
Mink
Crayfish plague caused by Aphanomyces
astaci

5. •3. Poor Hydromorphology
Legacy of drainage and poor
riparian zone management
•Much of catchment heavily
modified
•Negative impacts on aquatic
biodiversity
•Compounded by climate
change (low summer water
levels) in future?

6. 4. Habitat loss
-riparian habitat removal

7. Barriers to Fish Migration
5. Barriers to Fish Migration
13 weirs dams, and
other artificial barriers
to fish migration in
Maigue catchment
Bruree
Croom

8. How the Maigue Rivers Trust came to be
The Maigue Rivers Trust grew out of a
community response to a serious fish kill
in 2014
•This and other pressures highlighted the
need for a new way of caring for rivers
that relied less on top down regulation
and more on developing a sense of
stewardship for our rivers.
•The Trust was established in 2016, with
•unstinting support from Limerick City and
County Council, and Mark Horton from the
River Trust.
•Has charitable status and is a company
limited by guarantee.
•Our general mission is “To protect,
enhance and cherish the rivers and lakes
of the Maigue catchment for the benefit
and enjoyment of all”.

9. Aidan Gleeson
Farming
Tom Harrington
-Chairperson-
Conservation/
Wild life
Rhiannon
Laubach
Local
Development
Catherine
Dalton
Education/
Research
Eddie Ryan
Local
Government
Sybren Oggel
Tourism/
leisure
Dave Buston
Angling
Veronica
Santorum
Business
Noreen Ryan
Education
Carmel Fox
Finance
Anne Goggin
Local
Authority
Liaison
Liz Gabbett
MRT
Project Officer
Non-directors
Directors of the Maigue Rivers Trust -10 representing the 3 pillars of
sustainability: economic, social and environment.

10. • Meetings with angling clubs to discuss priorities.
Fisheries and water quality reports (on website)
• Support for angling clubs to secure funding from
SCF and NSAD.
• Funding from Castlepooke Windfarm Community
Fund to research fishing rights-access is an issue!
• Website
(www.Maigueriverstrust.com)
and Newsletter
• Meetings with local communities
community groups and other
stakeholders to establish priorities.
Bruff 2017
Working with Communities

11. We gather information and make it
available in a more condensed form on our
website.
To address knowledge gaps we
commissioned studies.
These were funded by LEADER,
Community Water Development Fund,
Castlepooke Windfarm Fund
Addressing Information Deficits

12. Signage, highlighting the catchment and its biodiversity
Bruree

13. Community Events
The Music and Magic of The Maigue
Festival of Fun on The Maigue

14. Public kayaking event June 2018 and June 2019.
50 participants, Heritage Council funding.

15. Community Participation in Citizen Science
MRT ran two workshops on water quality monitoring
using the Small Stream Characterisation methodology,
delivered by Prof. Ken Whelan. Trained 30 participants in
water quality assessment using macroinvertebrates.
From this grew a volunteer group that monitor smaller
streams in the catchment that are not in the EPA network
but very important for biodiversity and fish spawning
MRT volunteers sampling the Drumcomoge, May 2019

16. HELP BRING BACK THE SALMON
-THE DRUMCOMOGE PROJECT
From the work of that volunteer group, we
developed, with the help of funding from
LAWPRO and its CWD Fund, a proposal for
enhancement of the salmon spawning
potential of the R. Dromcomoge, a headwater
of the Maigue.
Now looking
for funds to
implement
this

17. European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Proposal
The Trust developed a European Innovation
Partnership (EIP) proposal 2017 around
agriculture and water quality (Water and
Agriculture: Delivering Environmental
Sustainability)
The project did not secure funding as it was
deemed too expensive, but a very positive
outcome was that the Trust forged very strong
links with the farmers, farming organisations and
dairy co-ops along with Ballyhoura Development,
IFI and a range of other stakeholders.
The Operational Group is still active.

18. • Funded by EPA/Mary Immaculate
College
• PhD research project commenced Jan
2020. Donna Wiener is the researcher
• Project partners: Rivers Trust, Local
Community, , Community Water
Officer
• Objectives:
• Co-monitor and develop
appropriate citizen science
programmes
• Develop a spirit of stewardship
towards the river through citizen
science
• Mainstream catchment-scale
citizen science initiatives
River Environmental Stewardship Project

19. The Irish River Trust Resilience Project
In late 2019, LAWPRO and The Rivers Trust announced the Irish Rivers Trust
Resilience Pilot Project- major development for supporting community action in
managing the local water environment
•Funding to the Maigue and Inishowen RTs to each employ a project officer for 3
years to help them transform from fledgling volunteer-led to self-sustaining
charities capable of delivering on their core objectives and catchment-scale
projects.
•It will allow the trusts to engage with communities and support community
involvement in managing their local waterbodies at a level that was not possible
up to now.
•Still funding challenges: funding is reducing each year; many funders do not
permit any % be used for supporting staff employment costs. A policy change is
needed nationally across departments.

20. The Future
•We need to expand awareness and education outreach.
•The trust also needs to recruit a broader network of supporters/volunteers. We are
currently looking at creating a portal for this purpose on our website.
•We are also working on a brief for a recreation and leisure study for the catchment.
•A focus in the future will also be implementing the recommendations of the baseline
studies, many of which relate to habitat improvement. We will be getting more active on
the ground with landowners and other stakeholders
•We are working towards an integrated management plan for the catchment which will
have a shared vision of the catchment based on economic and environmental
sustainability.

21. The Maigue Rivers Trust thank for their support:
Ballyhoura Development
Limerick City and County Council
LAWPRO
Mark Horton, The River Trust
Ruairi O’Conchubhair, Community Water Officer
LEADER
The Heritage Council
J P McManus Fund
Castlepooke Windfarm Fund
Inland Fisheries Ireland
Dr William O’Connor, ECOFACT
Croom Development Association
Limerick Arts Office
Ballyhoura Comhaltas Ceolteoiri Eireann
Limerick LCDC
Mary Immaculate College
Thank you for your attention!