protect water quality

Protection in the Coastal Zone - Water Quality Information & Monitoring


Introduction	Government	Production	Protection	Infrastructure	Contacts

Water Quality Information & Monitoring in the Coastal Zone

The community agreed the following objective for water quality information and monitoring in the
coastal zone:

1. Objective:

To have water quality of the highest possible standard, that is monitored to keep it so. The quality of water should meet all necessary standards for the various uses including drinking, fisheries, swimming and aquaculture. Full information on the monitoring and quality of water within the coastal zone should be collected and made available so that appropriate action can be taken to protect water quality where necessary.

The community identified the following challenges to achieving the objective:

2. Water is a shared resource that is used in many different ways in the Bantry Bay coastal zone. The
quality of all water in the area is of concern. This includes the quality of surface water (rivers, streams
& lakes), groundwater (water moving through the soil and stored underground), and sea water. The
good quality of water can be easily damaged and is difficult to restore. In many cases damage to
water quality has widespread and long-term effects.

There are a range of different bodies within the coastal zone that are concerned with water quality,
but it is unclear whether a single agency has overall responsibility for it. There is no full list of which
bodies are involved in water quality monitoring in the coastal zone or of the range of water quality
information that they collect. The information that is collected is not fully shared between the
different agencies or made widely available to the public.

It is not possible to know whether all the monitoring that should be carried out is being done.

It is often difficult to tackle pollution if it comes from diffuse sources rather than a single location.

The legal requirements for minimum water quality standards for the different water uses are not well
known. There is little awareness of the many risks to water quality and their impact on activities
within the coastal zone. Regulations to prevent water pollution need to be enforced.

3. Agreed Approach to Achieving the Objective

The community agreed the following approach to achieving the objective:

3.a Everyone in the coastal zone should be committed to ensuring the highest quality of water possible in the area.

3.b Encourage all agencies that are concerned with water quality in the Bantry Bay coastal zone to share the information they currently collect. (IT 4.a/ 4.e)

3.f Encourage individuals, households, businesses and regulatory bodies to play their part in maintaining high water quality standards. (W 4.e)

3.g Promote research on techniques to measure, maintain or improve water quality in the coastal zone.

3.c Further encourage all these agencies to work together and consult with local interests to ensure that all the necessary monitoring information that is necessary is collected, and that this is carried out in the most efficient way possible. Use this information to keep track of whether water quality is improving over time or not. (IT 4.b)

3.h Encourage the adoption of new technologies that safeguard water quality when they are developed.

3.i Prevention is better than the cure and so new developments should not negatively affect the standards of water quality in the coastal zone.

3.d All agencies that collect water quality information should share their information and make this accessible to the general public. (IT 3.a)

3.e Promote increased public awareness of the importance of good water quality, the risks to water quality and ways that good water quality can be protected. (W 4.L)

3.j Enforcement of existing regulations to protect water quality throughout the coastal zone must be carried out.

3.k Catchment management programmes should be developed for the Bantry Bay coastal zone. (CM)

4. Agreed Actions:

Specifically, the community has agreed that the following actions should be carried out:

4.a Identify and survey agencies concerned with water quality to find out what types of water quality information they collect at the moment (when, where, how often, what form are the data involved in, and so on). - Consult all these agencies to see if the water quality information that they currently collect can be shared openly, so that agencies do not duplicate each others' monitoring. - Make this information publicly accessible in a location within the Bantry Bay coastal zone. (IT 4.a/ 4.b/ 4.c/ 4.f)

4.d Collect details of the legal minimum water quality requirements for all water uses which take place in the Bantry Bay coastal zone (drinking, fisheries, swimming, aquaculture, etc.) and hold this in a publicly-accessible local information point. (IT 4.f)

4.e Each agency that has an interest in water quality is to clarify their concern and responsibilities and undertake to actively enforce regulations to protect water quality.

4.b Set-up a network of agencies and local interests concerned with water quality to work out the full range of water quality monitoring that is needed for the Bantry Bay coastal zone, and to agree the most efficient and effective way of carrying out regular monitoring between them. (IT 4.d/ CPP 4.c/ 4.d/ 4.f)

4.f Organise and support public awareness raising activities and events (school projects, public events, etc.) to provide information to the community about the importance of good water quality, the risks to good water quality and the standards that are required for different uses of water. (W 4.L) 4.g Carry out research to identify initiatives to improve water quality.

4.c Approach each agency concerned with water quality to produce a statement every year with details of water quality within their responsibility; the present standards and whether these are improving or getting worse. - The network of these agencies should produce an annual joint statement on the overall water quality within the Bantry Bay coastal zone and recommend necessary actions.- Conduct an environmental audit of water quality to establish a baseline of information against which future trends in water quality can be measured and contrasted. (IT 4.d)

4.h Investigate the application of financial incentives to reduce coastal zone pollution; for example, preferential taxation of potential polluting substances like fertilisers, feed-stuffs for fish and livestock, etc.


Start of Charter	Bantry Homepage