The Lough Melvin Programme
Programme Overview
Download a Programme Overview [.doc, 1MB]
“Protect the health and unique environmental qualities of Lough Melvin and its catchment”
The water within Lough Melvin comes from its surrounding catchment area (265km2) in Leitrim and Fermanagh. The catchment provides homes and livelihoods to many families and businesses. Many depend on and enjoy the clean pristine waters of the lake. However, to protect the water quality in Lough Melvin, the source of nutrients from the surrounding catchment needs to be managed. The development of a Catchment Management Plan is an effective and holistic way of linking activities in the surrounding catchment to impacts on the lake. From this, ways to reduce the threats to the environmental health of Lough Melvin can be developed.
The Lough Melvin Programme will develop a cross-border Catchment Management Plan to identify options, actions and recommendations to reduce the impact of human activities on the lake. The Plan will focus on nutrients as the key threat but it will also cover other possible threats.
The Lough Melvin Catchment Management Plan will combine outputs from four major Project Strands (investigations). These are outlined below:
Strand 1: Programme Coordination; Northern Regional Fisheries Board
Develop the catchment management plan; undertake an assessment of forestry and housing; increase awareness of the values and threats to Lough Melvin and; promote environmental management.
http://www.nrfb.ie
Strand 2: Agri-Environmental; Teagasc
Develop and provide an agri-environmental suite of measures in consultation with farmers, to safeguard and improve the environment of the Lough Melvin catchment.
Strand 3: Economic Assessment; Queens University Belfast
Conduct an economic assessment of costs and benefits of the proposed programme of agri-environmental measures. Investigate alternative economic methods for implementing nutrient management.
Strand 4: Water Quality and Isotope Analysis; Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Belfast
Complete a water quality analysis programme for Lough Melvin and its inflowing river network with specific emphasis on nutrients and their sources.
The Programme budget of €1.3 million is provided by the EU INTERREG IIIA Programme for Ireland/Northern Ireland and the project partners; Northern Regional Fisheries Board; Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) Northern Ireland; Queens University Belfast (IAFLU) and; Teagasc Research.
