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The draft Plans for the RBDs in Ireland have been developed in cooperation between local authorities within each RBD, River Basin District Advisory Councils (RBDAC), the Environment Agency and, for the IRBDs, the NIEA.
A separate website has been set up for each of the eight RBDs in the island of Ireland. Copies of the draft plans, a range of supporting documents and information on how to respond to the public consultation are available on the websites:
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) – Environmental Reports and Habitats Assessments under Article 6 of the European Communities Habitats Directive that have been completed in parallel to the draft River Basin Management Plans are available on the websites of the individual RBD projects.
In addition, The Water Matters ‘Help us plan!’ website (http://www.wfdireland.ie/documents.html) makes available for public review the draft River Basin District Management Plans for all the RBDs in the island of Ireland. On this site additional background or reference documentation is also made available.
The draft Plans for the IRBDs have three components:
- The Main document provides a summary of the draft River Basin Management Plan for the RBD (for the Northern Ireland portion of the International River Basin District). It describes the current condition of the water environment, the objectives for improving it and the measures that will be used to deliver these improvements.
Draft plans ‘Water matters “Help us plan! “’ have also been prepared for the portions of the International Districts in Ireland. The draft plan for Neagh Bann IRBD, relating to the portion of the RBD in Ireland, has been issued by the county councils of Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Meath and the draft plan relating to the portion of the North Western IRBD in Ireland has been issued by the county councils of Donegal, Cavan, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan and Sligo. (http://www.wfdireland.ie/) (http://www.wfdireland.ie/documents.html)
- The NIEA’s website (http://maps.ehsni.gov.uk/wmuviewer/) has an interactive map that provides access to information on local water bodies of interest. The website also provides details of the technical work and methodologies used in developing the draft River Basin Management Plan. There is a helpful tutorial on how to use the mapping system.
The North South Shared Aquatic Resource (NS Share) Project has developed an interactive map and database system to support draft River Basin Management Plans for use by the public and specialist users alike. These can be accessed from the WFD Ireland website: (http://www.wfdireland.ie/maps.html) and include Online Help & Tutorial System (http://www.wfdireland.ie/tutorial/Index.html)
- ‘Managing Our Shared Waters – Working Together’ – a document for the two International River Basin Districts is outlining the cooperation arrangements between the two jurisdictions, north and south, involved in implementing this Directive in the shared waters. It focuses on the status of the shared waters (those water bodies which lie along the border), the future environmental objectives for these waters and the measures proposed to achieve these objectives. It also provides a summary of the whole international district’s status, objectives and measures.
The main pressures and issues for those waters in Northern Ireland not achieving good status or better are:
- Abstraction and flow regulation;
- Diffuse pollution from rural and urban land, including nutrient enrichment;
- Point source pollution from sewage and industry;
- Changes to morphology (physical habitat);
- Invasive alien (non-native) species.
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