Presentation to Environmental Protection Agency

NATIONAL WATER EVENT 2nd July2014 Fran Igoe, IRD DuhallowLIFE

Overview of presentation

•IRD Duhallow – a Rural Development Company

•LIFE+ Project and actions

•Community engagement

•The big picture

•Integrated Catchment Management

Rural Development Model lends itself to public engagement

- continuous contact with the local community

-Food delivery service to elderly

-Education and learning supports

-Focus groups and workshops

-Supports for affected groups (e.g. bereavement, alcohol,

suicide etc)

-Significant voluntary involvement

IRD Duhallow LIFE+ project: Restoration of the Upper River Blackwater SAC for the Freshwater Pearl Mussel, Atlantic Salmon, European Otter and Kingfisher

Project budget: €1.9m (£1.6m)

Duration: 4 years

Project promoters:

IRD Duhallow

Inland Fisheries Ireland

IRD DuhallowLIFE+ project target area (Natura 2000 site)

On the ground

restoration works

Main issues affecting SAC

Erosion of river banks

Loss of riparian habitat

Soil loss due to land drainage

Siltation of fish spawning beds and pearl mussel habitat

Spread of non-native invasive plants along the river banks

Loss of habitat to range of threatened species

Siltation of fish spawning beds

Siltation of Freshwater Pearl

Mussel Habitat

Invasive alien plant species

Note project did not set out to tackle nutrient enrichment

directly-WFD/Nitrates Directive

29 Project actions in total

Action 4 River Bank Erosion

Bank revetment Soft engineering approach

1.Limited rock at base

2.Bank reprofiling

3.Live willow stakes

4.Fence

Same site 2013

Betty Ann Bryce of the OECD receives

demonstration of our revetment technique from

IRD Duhallow.

29 Project actions in total

Action 5 Flood Friendly Fencing

Action6 Drainage and silt traps

29 Project actions in total

•Land drainage is a major problem •Some drains over 4m deep! •Responsible for increased water discharge in wet weather •and siltation. •Survey found that 75% of drains (n=70) require silt trapping

ISSUE = Siltation from land drainage

Confluence of a single freshly dug drain into a tributary of

the SAC (top) and the SAC adjacent to a FPM bed

New silt trap design

Flow of drain

•15 silt traps in 4 drains (inc 2 Glashas).

•Shown to reduce suspended solids from >1000 to less than 50

•Demonstrations give to local farmers

•Spin off project (LEADER) refining the method further to increase removal of ss.

Need to engage stakeholders • To get access to land

• To change behaviours

• Maximise and bring in resources

• Worked with partners to maximise output and reduce costs – also considerable goodwill/sponsorship

• Longterm viability of project depends in good buy in

Making project directly relevant to key stakeholders

• Farmers with land adjacent to river are key stakeholders affecting habitat

• Organised free fishing classes for landowners

• Great way to generate interest and appreciation of the local resource.

• Very popular and great buzz

Local community monitoring

• Involve the local community in monitoring

• Effective way to get people talking and often brings in new ideas

• Examples; Monitoring of Freshwater Pearl Mussel by Anglers, Sand martins by Duhallow Birdwatch Group

Outcomes • On practical level; gaining access to land requiring work

(22km fencing, 24km h balsam, silt trapping, ~6km tree pruning, 1000’s of willow, ash, alder planted over 8km stretch, bird boxes, otter holts, monitoring, information signage etc)

• Increasing awareness of local community on importance of SAC.

• Engagement of landowners on level never before achieved in the area.

• Great participation by schoolchildren.

• Increased volunteer activity and learning.

• Active engagement of farming community

Not goes to “plan”

1. Large scale landscape changes outside the projects control (e.g., large scale clear felling of trees, land drainage or maintenance) –ICM a solution?

2. Lack of quality baseline data

3. Licensing (e.g., photographic license, Appropriate assessment, Notifiable actions, FPM survey license, now Local Authority planning required)

4.Delays in being granted licenses - a major headache

5.Enviromental window paradox

6. Differing expert opinion on whether to intervene or let “nature take its course”

7. Perspective and sense of urgency needed

Doctors differ..................

Parameter Result

CBOD5 742mg/l O2

COD 5950mg/l O2

Nitrate as N < 4.8mg/l

Phosphorous 23.95mg/l

Ortho-phosphate as P 7.45mg/l

Need for joined up thinking • Currently dichotomy between

certain EU and Govt policies – e.g., single farm payment vs biodiversity commitments and EU Directives (WFD and Habitats Directive)

• Result farmers encouraged “forced?” into land clearance resulting in environmental damage

• Incentivised industrial non-native forestry replacing moorland and people

Integrated Catchment Management

What is it?

A catchment approach.

Integration.

A change in philosophy.

Stakeholder involvement, particularly at local community level.

Source: Daly 2013 IAH (Irish Group) Conference “Groundwater & Catchment Management”, Tullamore, April 2013.

River Allow Catchment Management Plan

Farmer helps draw down donated Christmas trees and willow to river bank

Working with people brings results

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

IRD Duhallow LIFE+ has had some success in rolling out practical measures, but to be effective some of these (e.g., silt traps) need to be rolled out at a much larger scale.

Stakeholder and community participation is key.

Successful protection and restoration of our waters will not be achieved by using the current mainstream approaches.

We believe that Integrated Catchment Management is a process that is suitable for Ireland and that is achievable, provided that there is ‘buy-in’ and it is given a sufficiently high priority and adequate resources.

Special thanks

Rural Social Scheme participants

Inland Fisheries Staff

Duhallow Environmental Working Group

Kanturk trout Anglers

Blackwater Salmon Trust

Duhallow Birdwatching Group

Mulkear LIFE

City Analysts

University College Cork

University College Dublin

Mary Kelly-Quinn – UCD

Waterford Institute of Technology

Tralee Institute of Technology

Mary Immaculate College/UL

Martin O’Grady - IFI

EPA (Donal Daly and John Lucey)

Numerous individual volunteers and advisors

Staff of IRD Duhallow

Local community and landowners

INTERREG IV TRAP Project (SW Regional Authority)

Engaging Citizens – Septic Tanks and Private Wells

Margaret Keegan

Water Event Conference

11th June 2014

What is .....Citizen Engagement?

Increasing level of public involvement

"Individual and collective actions designed

to identify and address issues of public

concern.“

Why Do It?

The right thing to do?!

Public Value

Good

Governance

Reduced

Costs

Better

Regulation

Maximise

Efficiencies

EPA engagement with citizens

Septic Tanks

Private Wells

Other EPA awareness campaigns in Ireland

Septic Tanks - Background

ECJ Ruling against Ireland

Requirement to register all systems

Septic Tank Inspection Regulations

Public consultation

Submissions considered in drafting

regulations

EPA National Inspection Plan for Septic

Tanks

Draft Plan

Public consultation

Meetings with relevant stakeholders

Final Plan took submissions on board

National Media Campaign -

media, leaflets to all homeowners,

radio ads etc....

Public Objection

‘Carrot’ – reduced rate €5.00 for

early registration, grant if

registered

‘Stick’ – more likely to be

inspected, not eligible for grant

More than 90 %

registration rate

Septic Tank Registration Campaign

Septic Tanks – The Issues (1)

Septic tanks if not sited, installed,

operated and maintained properly -

pose a risk to human health and

the environment

500,000 systems in the country

However, on a national scale

DWWTS are not considered to

pose a significant risk to rivers

Traditional inspection regime

ALONE will not work

Suspected causes of pollution at 953 Polluted

River Sites Surveyed in 2007-2009

(from a total of over 2500 monitoring sites) –

DWWTS not listed

Septic Tanks – The Issues (2)

Needed to do something different

Regulatory approaches to Low

Risk Sites and Good Practice

Framework (Black & Baldwin)

Good Regulatory Intervention

Design (GRID)

Two strands to the National

Inspection Plan

Engagement strategies

Risk Based Inspections

Private Wells – The Issues (1)

30% of Private Wells contaminated with

E.Coli – Ref: EPA Water Quality Report

Increasing trend in incidence of VTEC –

Ref: HSE reports

Strong link to private well water

Private Wells are exempted supplies –

Drinking Water Regulations do not apply.

170,000 private wells according to the

CSO.

Do not know where they are and cannot

inspect them

Private Wells – The Issues (2)

Need to inform the well owners of

the risks

Change in attitude from ‘pure’

well water

Improve source protection, well

construction

Regular testing

Treatment, if necessary

Purpose of Information Campaigns

Target rural communities with septic tanks and/or private wells

Raise awareness and inform them of issues that directly affects them but they

may not know about

Deliver in partnership with others

Communicate with the stakeholders whose members are directly affected by

septic tank and private well issues

Improve channels with stakeholders to get message out to the public

Creating awareness and enabling behaviour change

EPA resources

Website

Web Application

Infographics

Posters

Videos

Social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)

TV (e.g. Eco Eye)

Communications Tools (1)

Web App

Self assessment tool

highlighting main risks

Multiple choice answers

Tailored report based on

answers to questions

General stats gathered by

EPA to assist future work on

private wells (no personal or

location data collated)

Multiple platforms

Communications Tools (2)

Animations

How a Septic Tank system

works?

What to expect from a

Septic Tank inspection?

(English and Irish)

Private Wells – What you

can do to make sure you

well water is safe (English

and Irish)

Reaching audiences – Working with others

In partnership with local authorities

Environmental awareness officers deliver messages to schools and local

communities

Leaflet distribution to all offices, libraries etc.

Placing the posters in public places such as libraries, art centres etc.

Changing screensaver and background messages on public PCs in libraries

etc. Example -“Clean Water is Vital for your Health. Is your Septic Tank a

risk?”

Reaching audiences – Working with others

In partnership with health professionals

Joint Press release with HSE on private wells

HSE Spokesperson

Dissemination of information through

Environmental health officers

General practitioners

Public Health doctors

Posters and leaflets in GP offices, health centres etc.

Reaching audiences - Working with others

Organisations with same message

GSI

An Taisce

Organisations with same target audiences

Farming organisations

Environmental NGOs

Professional Organisations

Industry Bodies

Reaching audiences - National media

Reaching audiences - Local media

Effectiveness of Septic Tank campaign

Registration campaign – 90% registration

Lancaster University dissertation

Metrics

To be refined by STRIVE RELAY Risk project

National Inspection Plan Interim Review

All LAs distributed leaflets, info on website, stakeholder meetings, articles etc…

Operation and Maintenance issues and de-sludging main reasons for failure during inspection

Full Review in August

STRIVE Small Scale Study - Attitudes Survey Majority of respondents stated that they were not provided with information on operation and

maintenance

69.9% respondents were aware that the LA and the EPA were in the process of implementing

public engagement campaign.

Internet, national radio and local newspapers in order of preference.

Those respondents whose private well had previously been contaminated were twice as likely to

acknowledge their septic tank as a potential threat

Effectiveness of Private Wells campaign

Metrics

Web app usage

Website, Animation hits etc

Level of grant uptake

Increased testing rates

Reduced Illness

Early days

Web App almost 1600 views and 159 responses

Journal.ie 7,000 views, 83 comments

YouTube 151 views

EPA Householder information webpage 2,600 hits

National TV and local radio coverage

Challenges

Huge lack of awareness of issues regarding septic tanks and risk posed to private

wells 170,000 private wells

500,000 septic tanks

Public opposition e.g. septic tank ‘tax’

Effect of Water Charges Increase in number of private wells

Proper construction, testing and treatment

Not necessarily low cost option

Successful implementation of campaign requires collaboration with others Resource implications

Agreed Messages – what do people want information on, what format?

Effective communication – non-technical language, New skills

Assessment of effectiveness