M o n i t o r i n g Sys t em Catchmen( Mmi!cikg

& Manugement System

Table 4 Water Quality Parametea

t

Rivers

The size of the Lough Derg and Lough Ree catchment, at over 10,ooO km*, q u i r e s a tiered

a p p w h to the river monitoring pmgramm.

Kay sampling locations clll the Rivea Shannon and at

the lower mhts of each of the larger lributaries

have bacn ScEleCoed to asst56 Smm-input loads to

the I-. Mamm datn from thepe sites will be

used IO eitablish accurate mass balances for

m w of phosphonrs lrnd nitrogen.

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Lough Derg &Lough Ree

M O n i t o r i It g Sy s t e m

Pour river sub-catchnanrs have baen sekctod for

special study. The sampIing pro%rammt within

these zutas is desigwd to assus t k iqmvemm& in water quality arising from thc impkmentatiour of pollution abatement s m g i t s and to qumtify the

varimls aontributiona to pdlutim lo& f m urban

agglomerations, industry and ryrtculturc and from

other land wcs such as forestry and peat milling

operatians.

+ the Nenagh Sukatchmnt

+ tkHindSubcatchment

+ the Camlin Sub-catchment

+ the B m Subcatchment

3 G e d C a t c h m e n t

All the remaining significant tributary streams

within the catdmml we includbd to e n m #a tht poltut~nt. loading from all mapr point smmces and

agricultural areas can be broadly assesad. Tht

monitoring pugramme has been designsd to detiver

acclsate estimates of the overall nutrient W n g and

to establish baseline water quality conditions

h m g W the cachmcnt as a wMe.

This sampling regime for the agricultural mini-

atchimds is d i d 1- In this report.

The sub-catchments wcre sckckd on the basis of

having the highest expoat rates of phosphMus to thc lakes. The comprehensive EPA Investigation of

h g h Derg 199 1-1 992 (8owman er al, 1W3) and of

The river water quality sampling regime is

summarized in Table 5. The location of the specialisf study mws and the catchment-wide watm

quality monitoring statim are presenscd in Map 3.

Table 5 River Water Quality Monitoring

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M o n i t o r i n g Sys tem Catchment M o n i t o ~ n g

& Management System

Map 3 Location of Special Study Areas and Catchmentwide Water Quality Sampling Stations

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Lough Derg &Lough Ree Lakes

Effluents

Moni tor ing System

Tht EPA MI t Crmtinue monitoring d the lakes along

tte main c h a d of thc R i m ShaMwn. At pnsent

the EPA monia~r Lwgh's Allen, REC d Derg an four occasbns per annum. The EPA may be in a

p i t h Lo umhtake a mort intensive lake sampiing

programme in 1999.

Other lakes within the catchment are being

m0niW by the h a 1 Authorities and the Shannon

€tegionalHdbuiesM.

unds m k v m legislati m h 88 tk 1977 a d 1990

Water Pollution Acts and the Environmental

Rdection Agency Act of 1992.

h r l Aufhoritics are directing their resources to

provide a comprehensive sewage and Industrial

effluent monitoring pmgramme to corrrplement the

river mMlltoring effort undutaken by the Project.

The EPA will provide effluent monitoring data for Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) Licensed

activities within the catchment.

An agreed monitoring programme has been

establishcd to measure the pollutant load arising

from individual municipal and trade dischaegts

The monitoring of municipal and trade effluents is tht responsibility of Local Authwities and the EPA

Table 6 Efnueat Monitoring - Range of Parameters to be Andy&

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a

Moni tor ing System Culchmenf Mmitoting & Management System

Hydrometric Considerations

A key r e q u i m t of tbe m i w i n g is

to emblish ~ccurtltt phosphonnr and nitrogen ma$s

balances for the lake inputs and outputs.

Information on river flows is essential for this

purpose and is dso critical to the umkmanding of eutrophication end its causes.

For the rnaprity of the tributary stmms, existing

automatic water level reconks ot staff gauges arc

bcing utilised w h svaitable and additional gauges

have becn erectad w h e ~ required.

Id addition, the establihwmt of two new permanent

ultraeonic gauglng stations on the River Shannon,

one at Rmxky and tk 0th at Banergher is being

exminad. These facilirics will greatly enhance thc

cumnt knowledge of the flow regime within the

Lough Dcrg and Lough R e catchments.

The hydrometric nceds of the Project are being

supponed by the Regional EPA Hydromeb-ic Units

at Athlone, Limerick, Monaghan, Castlebar and

Letterkenny in conjunction with the Local Authorities. the Office of Public Works and

Ektrici4y Supply Board,

I 1

in-sikr W&r gam?@ Sampling

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-.--*- Lough Derg Management Sys t em &'Lough Ree Computerised Information System

A computeristd information system has been

developed for the Lwgh Derg and Lough Rtc

catchnrent which will provi& d p c i h makers with

a powerful facility to assess and evaluate

environmental change.

The system comprises a series of databasts which

have &en carefully structured to e n m integdm

with national systems coupled with a Geographical

Information System (GIs). The GIS has the

capability to organise, analyse and presenl

infotmation in map f m t and enables w a r quality

trends to b easily identified on a catchment-wide

basis.

Developing the management system involved a

nurnbm of steps, rlamly:

4 collection of data;

4 establishment of the structure of the database

fiks;

+ collation and input of information to the

dataw;

4 geographical referencing of information for

display and spatial analysis.

The aim of the data colkdion exercise was to wllatc

all infarmation pertinent to water quality within the

Lough hrg and Lough Ree catchment. Map 4 Runoff Risk Categories for SoIk

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Manageme ~t t S y s tern Caichmm? Monitoritig

dt Mattagemnt System

a

lnformation covering the following topics was

CQllaCted:

the management system in d e r to identify uends

and gwge progress. The indicators are presented in

~~losY~geomorphologY landuse

soil charactearstics

h Y h l o g Y hydromatry agriculture and fmmy peat milling operations fishery mouTces

disccharges

r e c r c a t i 0 n a n d a m r n i t y ~ S

municipal, industrial and other significant

conservation and cultural heritage

river and lake water quality

Water quality environmental indicators we being proposed to enable water quality managers to use

tbc Water Quality section of this repwt.

Installation and Training

The CIS management system will be installed within

e s h of tk kxl Authorities, the EPA, the Shannon

Regional Rshcncs B d and other interested State Agencies durlng the later parr of 1998. The

Consultants will provide training to ensure a

satisfactory hand-over of the system. In the near

future, it will be msiblc for wakr managers within

each of the Lncd Audtwities and other agencies to

cotlakmie and share water quality related data on a

catchment-wide base.

Map 6 Landuse (Landmat Im~ge, May 1989)

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Management Sys tem

Catchment Information Centre

In orderto C(IGU~ tM the aIS Managenmt System is mainhaid nnd regulariy rrpdatd. a Catchment

Information Centre is to be estabiiskd at Ennis,

County Clare. A suitably qualified Database

Manager will be employed to 0pcl.ate the system.

The Centre will have the following long-term

mpcmsibilith:

The Centre will undertake regular collection oi

upbkd datsets including information generated by

the monitoring programme and from external

m s .

The cmm will i m ttme ntw daaw3 into

the GIS Management System as they become

avahbk,

The Centre w i l l regularly distribute updated

infmtmtion to the GTS Officers within each of tk

Local Authorities, to the EPA and to the other

inkrested W c Agencits.

The Centre will provide technical support for the

GIs Management System installed in each of the

h a l Authorities.

TIE Ceme will be responsible for compiling r q w s

on ongoing wattrquality UtnQ in the catchwt. The Ccncre will analyse landuse activities and water

quality dam Bo dmrmlm mrKb and to evaluate the

Access to Information effectiveness of abatement measures and report

p o g r c ~ ~ agaid estabtisld targets.

The establishment of the Catchment Information

Centre will facilitate easier access to information

with Ward to watcr quality related issues.

4 DataC#rnCliOrn

A rig- quality assurance system will be PI in

plact to verify dl information received.

+ Research for New & h e &

Many private and state wganizathm am inaeasing

their campter capabilities and digital informs#im is bacomlng nwe widely wctssibk.

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0

A g ric tk 1 t u re Carcfunent Monitotoring & Mmagemnt System

Agriculture ancl Water Pollution spproximately 50 tonms of MRP we= derived from

agricuttml8oufcts (Bowman, 1996).

Nutrient loss from agriculture i s accepted as a

significant c m of declining w&r quality within It will be d a f , in omler to achieve and maintain

the Lough k g and Laugh Rae catchment. satisfactory water quality, that significant

improvements in the area of environmental

management arc implemented by the agricultural

mor.

It is known that the greater PFopOrtion of Ihe nutrht

loading to Lough Dtrg is derived from non-point

sau~ces in the cachment. It is estimated that of &

average annual loads for the 1987-tWI perid, a

substantial proportion of the 178 tonnes of

Molywe W v e (MRp) wm wved

from non-point sources, principally agriculture

( B o w m et d, 1993).

Thc objectives of the agricultural element of the

Pmpct a:

+ to quantify agricultural nutrient loss to surface

water under varying conditions and to add to the

body of existing k;nowlcdgt regarding the factors

impliumd in ngric- nutrient loss:

Agricultural mmes are ako considered to be the main m e of ptsosphorus in the catchment of the

inflowing rivers to t w g h Ree. It Is estimated that of

the mean annual I d s for the 1993-19994 perid,

I

Agricultural Objectives

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+ using the infamath and expcritnce &rived at

mini-calchmtnt level, to devebp SrraagieS that

may be promoted on B carchment-wkle basis troth in Laugh k g and Roe and otbul&e and river

catchments for the reduction of agricultural

nutrient losses.

The above objectives are being developed and

evaluated in thm selected areas. repremtative of

the typical range d farming activities and physical

conditions within the Lough Derg and Lough Ret cdchmnts. Thc areas, shown in M a p 7 arc:

+ Betisgmve Mini-catchment, CO Cavan

+ Clarianna Mid-catdrmtnt, CO Tipperary

Gmnge-Rahara Mini-catchmeat, CO Rosc~nmon

Agriculture is the sole industry in each mini-

catchment and there are no significant municipal

discharges.

The soils in the Bellsgrove mini-catchment arc

predominately gleys. The landforms are typical

drumlins with impermeable soils on moderate

slopes. In contrast, the Wls in tht Clarianna and

Grange-Rahara mini-catchments arc largely grey

brown podzolics which have good drainage

characteristics.

Map 7 Agricultural mini- catchments

The Clarianna mini-catchment is an example of

intensive dairy farming. Approximately 10%15%

of the usable agricultural area is under tillage. The

grazing wamn is reasonably long with some farm

grazing from early March to mid Dectmber.

The Grang&ahma mini-catchment is repmmwive

of W a t of hland farming. The main tntesprisc is skeq maring d i d with sucklet cows and store

cattle with a considerable number of stock

wlwinleffd.

The Bellsgrove mini-catchment is an example of Ttagasc i s currently implementing Nutrient

intensive livestock farming. The main d c r p r i s Managanent PlaMling (NMP) in thtse areas. NMP arc dairying. dry stack and rearing of pigs. “k hvdves w ~ m l step; assessment, W y s l s , &cision

grazlng m is datively short and the soils arc making, evaluation and refinement. In most

cmily poscM (marked by the passage of animals), imtlMces the Nutrient Managcmmt Plan quires a

decision an tht p W of the farmer to utilize nutrients

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