Martina Hennessy, Informatics Manager, EPA delivered this presentation on managing and visualising the EPA's water data on September 10th 2015 at a Compass Informatics workshop.

1. Digital Water - The Water Framework Directive data
management and visualisation system
Martina Hennessy, Informatics Manager

2. Topics
 Informatics Team Overview
 Water Framework Directive (WFD) Context
 WFD Application Outline
 Key Learnings & Outcomes
 Future Direction

3. Informatics Team Overview
 Environmental Data, GIS, Landcover,
Applications Development
 Delivers a programme of change
annually driven by EPA teams and key
stakeholders
 Supports thousands of users – internal
and external
 Open Data
 Delivers innovation

4. Water Framework Directive – what is it?
 aims to improve our water environment. It requires
governments to take a new holistic approach
……..Member States must aim to achieve good status in
all waters and must ensure that status does not deteriorate
in any waters.
In any case, we need to…..
 Manage likely impacts of population increases
 Manage likely impacts of increases in agricultural production
 Maintain our green credentials
 Contribute to a healthy Ireland

5. WFD Cycle in a Nutshell
Characterise-
understand
catchments, key
pressures, &
their impact
Define
Environmental
Objectives to
be achieved and
by when
Define Actions
to achieve
Objectives -
Programme
of Measures
Combine
together as a
River Basin
Management
Plan
Implement
Programme
of Measures
Monitor
Progress of
actions and with
outcomes
achieved
Revise on a
six year
cycle

6. WFD – River Basin Planning Cycles

7. Learnings from WFD Cycle 1
 Consultant led process
 Loss of knowledge and expertise
 National perspective not considered early enough
 Lack of data standards
 Inconsistent approach to measures
 No longterm tracking of implementation

8. • Led by lead coordinating authority – Kilkenny and
Tipperary
• Detailed River Basin Management Plans
• Led by EPA
• Evaluation and implementation of measures
• Template for River Basin Management Plans
• Led by DECLG
• Policy, regulations and resources
• Sign off on River Basin Management Plans
WFD Cycle 2 – Governance Arrangements
Tier 1 – National
Management & Oversight
Tier 2 National Technical
Implementation &
Reporting
Tier 3 Regional
Implementation via Water
Networks

9. WFD Cycle 2 – Current Phase
Characterise-
understand
catchments, key
pressures, &
their impact
Define
Environmental
Objectives to
be achieved and
by when
Define Actions
to achieve
Objectives -
Programme
of Measures
Combine
together as a
River Basin
Management
Plan
Implement
Programme
of Measures
Monitor
Progress of
actions and with
outcomes
achieved
Revise on a
six year
cycle

10. WFD Application* – Key Principles
 Phased approach to development
 Building for the longterm
 National resource
 Accessible
 MS Excel not to be used as data management tool
 Use live data services where possible
 Publish metadata
*Funding provided by DECLG

11. WFD Application – Phase 1 Overview
• Attributes
• Trends
• Charts
• Search
• Navigation
Home National
Summary
Waterbody
Characteri
sation
Waterbody
Details
• National View
• Process Tracking
• Risk
Assessment
• Update/Approv
al Process

12. WFD Application Phase 1 - National View

13. WFD Application Phase 1 – Search Functionality

14. WFD Application Phase 1 - Waterbody Details

15. WFD Application Phase 1 – Charts/Trends

16. WFD Application Phase 1 – Characterisation Tier 1 Risk
Assessment

17. WFD Application Phase 1 – Technologies
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition
Database Engine
.NET Framework 4.5
SQL Server 2012 Integration Services
(SSIS)
ASP.NET MVC 5
Master Data Services Entity Framework 6
Dynamics CRM 2011 JavaScript libraries
• ESRI Javascript API
• AM Charts
Active Directory Federation Services
(ADFS)
IIS 8
ESRI ArcGIS Server 10.2.2

18. WFD Application and Data – Access
 Hosted on Environmental Data Exchange Network (EDEN)
 1,900 organisations - 4,700 users
 15 applications hosted on the EDEN Portal
 142 users of WFD Application from >30 organisations
 GeoPortal http://gis.epa.ie/
 Status and Waterbody layers are available
 View and download

19. Key Learnings & Outcomes
 It all comes down to data
 Huge benefit in bringing >25 datasets together
 Trust in one version of the truth – reproducible outcomes
 Strong partnership between scientific and informatics teams
essential
 Pragmatic approach needed in balancing short vs long term
requirements
 Laying foundation for next cycle

20. WFD Application – Next Phases
Characterise-
understand
catchments, key
pressures, &
their impact
Define
Environmental
Objectives to
be achieved and
by when
Define Actions
to achieve
Objectives -
Programme
of Measures
Combine
together as a
River Basin
Management
Plan
Implement
Programme
of Measures
Monitor
Progress of
actions and with
outcomes
achieved
Revise on a
six year
cycle
Phase 2 by
end of 2015
Early
2016
Draft by
end of 2016

21. 60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
% unpolluted river channel
December 2027
1987-1990
2010-2012
1995-1997
1998-2000
Expenditure 2000-2014 € billion
River water quality – past, present, future?
33%
53%
6%8%
Municipal
Agriculture
Industry
Other
Suspected causes of river pollution
Urban Waste Water
REPS Water
Farm Buildings
0 1 2 3 4 5
Source: Pat Duggan (amended Jenny Deacon)

22. Thank you
Martina Hennessy
m.hennessy@epa.ie