Lower Shannon & Mulkear Catchment Assessment (HA 25D) Catchment Science & Management Unit Environmental Protection Agency December 2018 Version no. 3 Preface This document provides a summary of the characterisation outcomes for the water resources of the Lower Shannon and Mulkear Catchment, which have been compiled and assessed by the EPA, with the assistance of local authorities and RPS consultants. The information presented includes status and risk categories of all water bodies, details on protected areas, significant issues, significant pressures, load reduction assessments, recommendations on future investigative assessments, areas for actions and environmental objectives. The characterisation assessments are based on information available to the end of 2015. Additional, more detailed characterisation information is available to public bodies on the EPA WFD Application via the EDEN portal, and more widely on the catchments.ie website. The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the situation in the catchment and help inform further action and analysis of appropriate measures and management strategies. This document is supported by, and can be read in conjunction with, a series of other documents which provide explanations of the elements it contains: 1. An explanatory document setting out the full characterisation process, including water body, subcatchment and catchment characterisation. 2. The Final River Basin Management Plan, which can be accessed on: www.catchments.ie. 3. A published paper on Source Load Apportionment Modelling, which can be accessed at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/bioe.2016.22 4. A published paper on the role of pathways in transferring nutrients to streams and the relevance to water quality management strategies, which can be accessed at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.3318/bioe.2016.19.pdf 5. An article on Investigative Assessments which can be accessed at: https://www.catchments.ie/download/catchments-newsletter-sharing-science-stories-june- 2016/ Table of contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 2 Water body status and risk of not meeting environmental objectives ............................... 2 2.1 Surface water ecological status ..................................................................................... 2 2.1.1 Rivers and lakes .................................................................................................................. 2 2.1.2 Transitional and coastal (TraC) .......................................................................................... 3 2.2 Groundwater status ....................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Risk of not meeting surface water environmental objectives ...................................... 7 2.3.1 Rivers and lakes .................................................................................................................. 7 2.3.2 Transitional and coastal (TraC) .......................................................................................... 7 2.4 Risk of not meeting groundwater environmental objectives ....................................... 7 2.5 Protected areas ............................................................................................................. 9 2.5.1 Drinking water protected areas ......................................................................................... 9 2.5.2 Bathing waters ................................................................................................................... 9 2.5.3 Shellfish areas .................................................................................................................... 9 2.5.4 Nutrient sensitive areas ..................................................................................................... 9 2.5.5 Natura 2000 sites ............................................................................................................... 9 2.6 Heavily modified water bodies ...................................................................................... 9 3 Significant issues in At Risk water bodies ............................................................................ 9 4 Significant pressures ........................................................................................................... 10 4.1 Water bodies ............................................................................................................... 10 4.1.1 Rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal (TraC) ................................................................... 10 4.1.2 Groundwater .................................................................................................................... 10 4.2 Pressure type ............................................................................................................... 11 4.2.1 Agriculture ........................................................................................................................ 11 4.2.2 Hydromorphology ............................................................................................................ 11 4.2.3 Other significant pressures .............................................................................................. 13 4.2.4 Urban waste water treatment plants .............................................................................. 14 4.2.5 Forestry ............................................................................................................................ 16 4.2.6 Extractive industry ........................................................................................................... 16 4.2.7 Industry ............................................................................................................................ 16 4.2.8 Diffuse urban .................................................................................................................... 16 4.2.9 Domestic waste water ..................................................................................................... 16 5 Load reduction assessment ................................................................................................ 19 5.1 River water body load reductions ............................................................................... 19 5.2 TraC load reductions .................................................................................................... 19 6 Further characterisation and local catchment assessments ............................................. 21 7 Catchment summary .......................................................................................................... 21 8 Areas for Action .................................................................................................................. 22 8.1 Process of selection ..................................................................................................... 22 8.2 Outcomes of process ................................................................................................... 22 9 Environmental Objectives .................................................................................................. 24 9.1 Surface Water .............................................................................................................. 24 9.2 Groundwater ............................................................................................................... 25 10 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ 28 1 Introduction This catchment covers an area of 1,041 km² and includes the lower reaches of the River Shannon to Limerick City and the catchment of the Mulkear River. The catchment is underlain by mostly impure limestones in low lying areas and the sandstone and metamorphic rocks in the uplands of the Slieve Bearnagh and Arra Mountains in the northwest, and the Silvermines and Slieve Feilim Mountains in the east. The River Shannon flows into the catchment from Lough Derg before branching into the Old River Shannon channel and the Ardnacrusha headrace at Parteen Weir. Upstream of Parteen Weir the Ballyteige and Ardcloony Rivers which flow into the western side of the Shannon. The Kilmastulla River flows into the Shannon from the east. The majority of the Kilmastulla Valley is underlain by a highly productive sand and gravel aquifer. The Old Shannon passes through O’Brien’s Bridge, with much reduced flow following the development of Ardnacrusha over 80 years ago. The hills north of Limerick City are drained by the Blackwater (Clare) River which flows under the Ardnacrusha head race before joining the Shannon upstream of Limerick City. The Old Shannon then passes Castleconnell before flowing through Limerick City, where it becomes tidal and is then re-joined by the Ardnacrusha tailrace at Parteen. The Mulkear River and its main tributaries – the Dead, Bilboa and Kileengarrif Rivers – drain the majority of this catchment. The Gortdrum River flows north from Limerick Junction before being joined from the east by the Cauteen River. Now known as the Dead River, it moves northwest and is joined by a series of streams including the Cappaghwhite, Ayle and Cahermahallia and by the Reask River from the south. The Dead River is then joined by the Bilboa River from the north near Cappamore. Now known