A Water Stewardship Standard setting out how to use and manage water responsibly has been launched by an alliance of 29 organisations including businesses, NGOs and parts of the UN. The Water Stewardship Standard 1.0 is based around the principles of good water governance, and applies to all water types, including freshwater, drinking water, effluent and snow:...

From 1st January 2014 Irish Water is responsible for the production, distribution and monitoring of drinking water from over 1000 public water supplies, serving 82.0% of the population.  The remainder of the population is supplied by group water schemes (6.6%), small private supplies (0.8%) and private wells (10.6%) that are exempt under the Regulations. Responsibility for the water...

The LIFE project MulkearLIFE (LIFE07NAT/IRL/000342) was recently presented with the Environment Award for 2013 by the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) at a ceremony in Cork. The project, which is being led by the Inland Fisheries Ireland, was honoured for its measures torestore degraded habitats in an area of 650 km2 of the Mulkear River...

What is blue energy?  Blue energy – or ocean energy – covers all technologies to harvest the renewable energy of our seas and oceans other than offshore wind (a Communication on offshore wind energy has already been adopted in 2008). Ocean energy can be harvested in many forms:  Wave energy depends on wave height, speed, length,...

This book offers a comprehensive snapshot of key environmental trends in OECD member countries since the early 1990s. It is organised by issues such as: climate change air pollution biodiversity and water resources waste water wastewater The report reveals big differences in environmental trends in different countries. It confirms that much more needs to be...

Recent newspaper headlines reported: Water charges are set to go up every year for families because Irish Water (IW) will be allowed to increase the rate. Households who stop wasting water and reduce their consumption could still end up with higher bills. Irish Water will be able to seek an annual hike in water charges...

A new data viewer from the European Environment Agency (EEA) allows users to access data on urban wastewater and treatment plants. The new data viewer, part of the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) has been developed to facilitate the use and display of data already reported under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD). The new UWWTD data viewer...

Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water and east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like apple sauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know. – Groucho Marx. Have a good weekend...

Limerick County Council have seen off competition from 33 other Local Authority areas to be named winner of the ‘Strategic Water Initiative of the Year’ award for the Kilmallock Water Supply. Limerick County Council earlier this year become the first Irish recipient of a prestigious internationally-recognised quality standard for the delivery of drinking water when...

There are more than 65,000 wastewater treatment plants in Europe, each providing an essential service to local populations. By simply installing innovative new equipment, plants could cut energy use by up to 25% while increasing nutrient removal by up to 20%. Operationally, a plant is designed to address the average waste water flow and composition...