Cork County Council has published Water Matters – Help Us Plan, a draft plan for the South Western River Basin District (SWRBD). It was published on behalf of the participating local authorities which have all or part of their area within the SWRBD.
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States (a) to ensure that waters which are designated for protection achieve the necessary standards for the purpose for which they are designated, (b) to prevent the decline in status of all waters, (c) to achieve at least "good status" by 2015 for all waters and (d) to reduce or eliminate the discharge of specified chemicals to waters. The directive is concerned with rivers and streams, lakes, groundwaters, estuaries and coastal waters (out to 1 nautical mile). It brings under one framework water-related directives including those dealing with bathing water, water taken from rivers and wells for drinking water supplies, sewage disposal and the protection of salmon and shellfish habitats.
The WFD is being implemented on a catchment or River Basin District basis. There are eight RBDs on the island of Ireland; see the map to the left. Each RBD will be managed jointly by the local authorities within which the waters are located, under the co-ordination of one local authority. Cork County Council is the co-ordinator for the SWRBD which encompasses Cork City, most of Counties Cork and Kerry and smaller areas of Counties Waterford, Limerick and South Tipperary.
The RBD boundaries do not coincide with county boundaries. This means that some counties are in more than one RBD; parts of County Cork fall into three different RBDs. While most of the County is in the SWRBD small areas are in the South Eastern RBD and Shannon International RBD. Draft plans for the SERBD and Shannon IRBD have also been published. They have a similar format but the statistics, tables and maps are specific to the RBDs. The draft plans for the SERBD and Shannon IRBD were published by Carlow County Council and Limerick County Council respectively.
The draft plans include programmes of measures, i.e. actions which will help to achieve the aims of the WFD.
We are seeking the views of members of the public on the draft plans. Consultation will be open until 22nd June 2009. Thereafter, the draft plans will be considered for adoption by the participating County and City Councils.
A Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Draft River Basin Management Plan has been prepared. Links to the documents that make up the SEA are below.
Appendix 1 - Screening Spreadsheet
Appendix II - Additional measures assessment
Appendix III Other assessments
Habitats Directive Assessment Report
You can also collect a hard copy of the draft River Basin Management Plan at Cork County Council, Environment Department, Inniscarra, Co. Cork or may request a copy through the post at the address below.
Please submit any comments on the SWRBD draft plan to me by post or email; see details below.
Seán Ó Breasail
South Western River Basin District
Cork County Council
Environment Department Inniscarra
Co. Cork
Email: sean.obreasail@corkcoco.ie
To make sure you get the correct version of the draft plan you should identify which River Basin District you live in from the map to the right. Some people may of course be interested in more than one RBD. You can find the draft plans for the SERBD and Shannon IRBD at www.serbd.com and shannonrbd.com respectively.
An Irish language version of the booklet will be available shortly.
You can obtain more information about river basin management by accessing www.wfdireland.ie where you will find an interactive map and a library of documents which were prepared to underpin RBD's.
We know we need your input to produce a good water management plan and we know that no plan can succeed without your support. The next step is up to you.
