The Protecting Shared Waters project is a €7.5 million cross-border partnership project which seeks to address the challenge of high nutrient, pesticide and sediment concentrations in sub-catchments of the Strule river catchment and the Fane cross-border river catchment.
Project
Overview & Purpose
The Protecting Shared Waters project is a €7.5 million cross-border partnership project which seeks to address the challenge of high nutrient, pesticide and sediment concentrations in sub-catchments of the Strule river catchment and the Fane cross-border river catchment.
The project will also raise awareness of the importance of protecting water quality and quantity and share learnings with communities and stakeholders.
The Protecting Shared Waters Project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
Our Funders
PEACEPLUS & Match Funding
The Protecting Shared Waters project is funded through the Water Quality Improvement Programme under Investment Area 5.3 of PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
The total value of €7.59 million consists of €6.07 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and UK ERDF equivalent funding, as well as €1.13 million government match funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, (DAERA) in Northern Ireland and €0.39 million from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) in Ireland.
The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) is a North South Body with the statutory remit for managing EU funding programmes within Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland.
PEACEPLUS is a cross-border funding programme designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. The total value of PEACEPLUS is €1.14bn.
PEACEPLUS is co-funded by the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Our Partners
Collaborative Partnership
The partnership is made up of six partners working collaboratively with each bringing their own experience and expertise to the project. There are also three associate partners who are supporting the project.
Project Partners
As lead partner, NI Water is responsible for project governance, management and finance management.
NI Water is a water and wastewater utility providing safe clean drinking water for the population of Northern Ireland, collecting, and treating wastewater from our customers before safely returning it to the environment. NI Water brings experience from working collaboratively with others to improve raw water quality for drinking water, through sustainable land management on its own, and third-party land.
Uisce Éireann as Ireland’s national regulated water utility, is responsible for the delivery of secure, safe, and sustainable water services. Experience gained through their ‘USE LESS’ water security initiative will be utilised to engage with Fane communities, farmers and industry with The Rivers Trust.
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) provides scientific research/services to government, non-governmental and commercial organisations. For the Protecting Shared Waters project, AFBI will deliver advisor-driven and farm-specific nutrient management planning and contribute to the design and operation of monitoring programmes (water quality, soil, nutrient management) within the Strule, and modelling activities (NbS) within the Strule/Fane catchments.
The Rivers Trust (TRT) will deliver NbS on agricultural land in selected Strule sub-catchments in liaison with AFBI/James Hutton Institute/Ulster Wildlife.
In a Fane sub-catchment, TRT will develop an innovative educational programme engaging with communities, the agri-sector and industry, addressing water quality/quantity issues using NbS.
As experts in catchment management, community engagement, and in using NbS, TRT will promote cross-border cooperation and knowledge exchange using an inclusive grassroots approach.
Ulster Wildlife (UW) will deliver peatland restoration on two key designated sites and deliver restoration plans and landowner engagement for two other sites in the Strule. This supports the conservation of boglands through NbS, contributing to water quality improvements in the Lough Macrory and Glenhordial drinking water catchments.
Developing restoration plans and landowner engagement provides a legacy, ensuring future “shovel ready” plans.
James Hutton Institute (JHI) will work on scoping the right measure, right place for NbS in the Strule and develop a knowledge bank of materials on selected NbS approaches.
Working with TRT, they will communicate farm runoff management plans, and with AFBI, assist/advise on spatial datasets and modelling tools.
Associate Partners
The Oriel River Catchment and Coastal and Association (ORCCA) is a cross-border rivers trust operational in the Newry, Fane, Glyde and Dee WFD Catchment in County Louth & County Monaghan in Ireland and the Fane River (Cullaville), Creggan River, Cully Water and Forkhill River waterbodies in Northern Ireland. ORCCA will contribute local catchment knowledge to the project and be involved in the activation of the community for the ECO Programme. They will provide guidance for the NbS opportunity mapping and facilitate knowledge exchange across the border and distribution of project outputs.
The Strule Tributaries and Rivers Trust (START) is a charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of the River Strule, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and is a member of the rivers trust movement.
Monaghan County Council (MCC) is responsible for the delivery of a wide range of services including the provision of infrastructure services that are necessary to the physical, economic, social and cultural life of the County.
The role of MCC as Associate Partner will be to provide local expertise on the Fane catchment and support the selection of a farm for the installation of demonstration measures which can be utilised for knowledge exchange purposes. MCC will support the project through its community-led work with data from Lough Muckno and the upper Fane to help support the scoping process to determine where the issues are so these can be relayed to the community. MCC will be involved with the project’s ECO Programme stakeholder engagement exercise to learn from this and build capacity as it is rolled out in the Fane.