Irish government gives green light to river clean-up plan

The Irish government has approved a new national water action plan, designed to tackle worsening pollution in rivers and lakes, curb increased flooding and scale up nature restoration.

The initiative will require new legislation promised in September which will replace the existing regime of river basin management plans, which have not been as successful as hoped. Over the period 2018-2021, the quality of 428 out of 726 water bodies designated for improvement in fact declined.

The blueprint sets out a roadmap to restore 300 of Ireland’s water bodies to “good status” or better, and to protect against further deterioration up to 2027. This will require 46 so-called catchment management plans to be adopted, covering major rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

The overall action plan aims to let rivers “run free” while restoring their natural ecosystem functions and scaling up nearby water infrastructure investment – notably wastewater treatment plants built by Uisce Éireann (Irish Water).