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Headford Girls National School, Galway: exploring their communities streams

On the 8th of June 2017, Headford Girls National School, Co. Galway, took part in an interactive streams exploration day, jointly organised by their school, Headford and Corrib Anglers, the Waters and Community Office and Sustainable Headford.

This day was part of an initiative by Sustainable Headford to encourage local residents to learn more about their local streams, rivers and lakes and to protect the water quality and in turn their own water supply and the local aquatic environment. Catherine Seale and Mick Kane from the Waters and Communities Office along with Philip White from Headford and Corrib Anglers Club facilitated a classroom presentation along with a kick sampling demonstration.

The kick sampling demonstration took the girls from 3rd to 6th class through the town of Headford to the Headford river, at the start of Sandybanks Lane, where samples were taken from the river and the different invertebrate species were identified. Mick also encouraged an awareness of the environment in general though identification of different wildflowers and lichens along the Sandybanks lane.

The girls learned about the invertebrates and fish that live in the stream, about local water features, including holy wells, and also how the water in Lough Corrib makes its way to their taps.

Sustainable Headford are planning to continue this initiative through more school programs in 2018 and 2019.

For details see: https://www.facebook.com/pg/sustainableheadford

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EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.