Gaelscoil an Choillín and Tidy Towns develop frog pond near River Brosna

Gaelscoil an Choillín, in conjunction with Mullingar Tidy Towns and Westmeath County Council, are developing a wetlands area in front of the school near the Lynn Road.

The project involves a variety of local environmental stakeholders working together on the first phase of the work – the Local Authority Waters Programme officers Basil Manning and Cathal Flood, An Gaelscoil an Choillín, children, parents and staff, and the Tidy Towns biodiversity and horticulture officer Isolde Dingerkus, as well as the council.

The creation of a frog pond and a safe wetland for frogs and other aquatic animals and plants is the first stage, and the project will include a specially designed rain-garden.

The children, teachers and parents council from An Gaelscoil will have a central role in managing and caring for the wetlands and the frog pond.

It is hoped eventually that the project will involve detailed aquatic biodiversity signage alongside the River Brosna on the eastern side of An Gaelscoil.

When the project is complete, it is hoped that it will raise awareness among students and staff of the school about the importance of aquatic biodiversity and water quality in a lived in environment, and that it will be a focus area for everyone in Mullingar to get a greater understanding of water quality generally.

Additional info from Local Authority Waters Programme

The rivers and lakes of County Westmeath are renowned places of natural beauty. They are popular with locals and visitors as destinations for water-based recreational activities, especially during summer months. Water quality in some areas is not, however, as good as it should be. The latest reports from the Environment Protection Agency show that around half (47%) of the rivers and lakes in Ireland do not have good water quality.

Issues affecting water quality in Westmeath’s rivers and lakes are well documented, and a lot of work is under way through the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), Westmeath County Council and other relevant agencies to address pollution and other known problems.

For the next five years, that work will be guided by Ireland’s River Basin Management Plan.

Each year, communities and local champions have role in the protection and enhancement of local water bodies. The Community Water Development Fund supports that effort and in 2023, some €520,000 in grant aid has been awarded to groups nationwide – €20575.75 of that to communities in Westmeath.

Anthony Coleman, director of LAWPRO, said: “The standard of applications was high this year and we were delighted to see the scale of ambition and enthusiasm from activists throughout the country. Congratulations to those who have been awarded grants and, to those who were not successful this time, I encourage you to maintain contact with your local community water officer, to keep developing new proposals and projects, and to apply when the next round of funding is available.”

Types of projects approved for funding include:

• River and habitat enhancement works such as planting of native species and hedgerow, pollinator friendly planting, river-bank stabilisation, fencing and riparian buffer zones.

• Preparation of local plans, such as feasibility studies, habitat management plans, ecological surveys, and biodiversity action plans.

• Awareness raising initiatives such as riverside litter picks, biodiversity information boards, citizen science workshops, outdoor classrooms, rainwater harvesting, and enhancement of wetlands.

Citizen Science

Mullingar Tidy Towns have received funding from this year’s Community Water Development Fund following previous funding and enabling their ongoing commitment to the River Brosna. They have collaborated with other groups in the catchment such as Mullingar Shamrocks GAA club on the GAA led green clubs initiative. They have been allocated almost €5000 from LAWPRO to deliver a brosna wetland habitat via a rain garden habitat at Gaelscoil an Choillín as part of a wider Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDs) project on the Brosna focused on nature based solutions ie: working with nature.

In acknowledgment of the role communities have as custodians of their own rivers and streams, joint community water officer for Counties Westmeath, Offaly, and Laois Cathal Flood said: “Communities are vital to the improvement and protection of our local water bodies. Our ability to fund projects like that of Mullingar Tidy Towns is only one of several ways LAWPRO can provide support to groups on the ground who want to protect their local environment.

“Community groups have a role to play in the protection of our most precious natural resource, but need to be supported and collaborated with effectively to see more projects that help address our environmental challenges in terms of water quality, biodiversity loss and climate change thrive in County Westmeath.”

This year, an additional €20,000 was awarded as part of the Blue Dot Programme. The Blue Dot Award for 2023 was shared between two groups; IRD Duhallow in County Cork and Camross Tidy towns group in Co. Laois. Blue Dots are catchments which are mostly unpolluted and are the best quality waters.

Ireland has experienced a long-term trend of decline in the number of high status (Q5 and Q4-5) river sites in recent decades. Of monitored sites, 19% had high status in the 2017-2019 EPA assessment period compared to 31.6% in 1987-1990 (EPA, 2019).

Unfortunately, this decline has affected Westmeath and there are no Blue Dot sites in the county.

The Blue Dot programme aims to support existing sites to maintain and improve high water status and bring blue dot sites back.

• For more information on grants awarded in 2023, visit lawaters.ie, and for information and advice relating to enhancing local water bodies in County Westmeath, contact Cathal Flood, community water officer, at cflood@lawaters.ie or 085 8541258, or see his water related work on Twitter at twitter.com/maoltuile.

For the latest on water quality, science, and stories of community activities, see catchments.ie.