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Catchments.ie wins 2 Web Awards – Best Science and Technology & Most Innovative Website

We’re delighted to announce that www.catchments.ie has won 2 awards at the 2016 Realex Payments Web Awards:

Best Science and Technology (Sponsored by BT Ireland / BT Young Scientists)
Most Innovative Website

Huge thanks to:

This website is a great example of what collaboration between a Government Department, an Agency and Local Government can achieve.

The data on this website is the result of work being done by a huge range of people, including:

EPA Catchments Team, Informatics Team, Biologists, Chemists, and Laboratories
All 34 Local Authorities
Inland Fisheries Ireland

We’ll be doing some minor upgrades to the website between now and the end of the year to take on board internal and external feedback we’ve got so stay tuned.

We’ll also be updating our Status information with 2013-2015 data shortly once some testing is completed.

You can see all the other finalists on the Web Awards website – they are incredibly impressive websites, so we are absolutely delighted to be honoured with these awards.

A special thanks to Brian Durney who helped with the design of the site.

Mari Cahalane, BT Young Scientists, and Paddy Morris, EPA Catchments

About author

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.