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Home News Irish National Hydrology Conference: hydrology and community involvement, 20 November 2018

Irish National Hydrology Conference: hydrology and community involvement, 20 November 2018

The National Committees of the International Hydrological Programme and the International Committee on Irrigation and Drainage are holding the 19th National Hydrology Conference on Tuesday 20 November 2018 at the Mullingar Park Hotel.

This event is Ireland’s leading conference devoted to Hydrology providing a unique forum for attendees to share policy developments, research results, and practical solutions to engineering hydrology issues.

The theme of this year’s conference will focus on the interaction between hydrology and communities. Interactive community engagement and involvement is crucial for the successful implementation of water policies and projects. Allowing all stakeholders to bring forth their concerns and opinions can lead to reduced delays and costs, improved design, and a higher level of acceptance amongst the community.

Increasingly the idea of community based (citizen science) monitoring and observation networks is gaining acceptance for enhancing the design of water related projects. It is therefore important to highlight the mutual benefits that can be gained from the participation of communities in the hydrological design process.

Sessions at this conference will include:

Community Engagement
- Keynote Address: Community and the Environment: Prof. Tom Collins – Chair, National Water Forum
- Rehabilitation of the Camac River under the Water Framework Directive: New Opportunities to Engage Local Communities and to Manage Flood Risk – Mary-Liz Walshe, Dublin City Council
Stakeholder Involvement
- CFRAM – ‘Assessing Ireland’s flood risk and setting a strategy for the future’ – John Martin, Office of Public Works
- Hydrology and communities: a hydrogeological study of Irish Holy wells – Bruce Misstear, Trinity College Dublin
- Climate Change, Groundwater and Community: Findings from a national survey of Irish well owners about flood-triggered contamination of private supplies – Luisa Andrade, University College Dublin
Catchment Management
- Characterising environmental flows in Ireland and what this means for water resource management in Ireland – Conor Quinlan, Environment Protection Agency
- Development of an automated tool to undertake a National Flood Risk assessment – Patrick Rath, RPS Consulting Engineers
- Analysis of Runoff from Irish Peatland Catchments to Support the Development of Drainage Management Plans for Raised Bog SACs – Brendan Quigley, RPS Consulting Engineers
Groundwater
- Developing historic and predictive groundwater flood maps for Ireland – Owen Naughton, Geological Survey Ireland
- Groundwater flood modelling in the karst lowlands of South Galway – Patrick Morrissey, Trinity College Dublin

More details and bookings:

Full details and how to book are available in this document.

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.