Carrigaholt Priority Area for Action Desk Study Summary This is a non-technical summary of the desk study on the Carrigaholt Priority Area for Action (PAA), which was completed in April 2021.

A desk study is the first step in our work. We gather available information about the river into a single document. To write these desk study reports, we use information available for all waters that we plan to assess in the PAA. We get our information from:

• The Environmental Protection Agency • Local Authorities • Inland Fisheries Ireland • Irish Water • The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine • Other public agencies.

The desk study also includes information learned from the public at a local community meeting. The Carrigaholt community meeting was held via Zoom in September 2020.

The desk study helps us to understand:

• The quality of the water in the river o Has it changed in the last few years? • The importance of the river o Are there any rare plants, animals or habitats that must be protected? o Is it used to supply our drinking water? • The human-made impacts o Is there a wastewater treatment plant? o Is land used for agriculture or forestry? o Has the river been changed physically?

Background and location LAWPRO catchment scientists work in specific catchment areas called Priority Areas for Action. The Carrigaholt Priority Area for Action (PAA) is situated in west Clare. The PAA consists of one waterbody, the Moyana_010 (also known as the Moyarta river). Moyana_010 flows in an easterly direction across the Loop Head Penninsula into Carrigaholt Bay.

Figure 1 The Carrigaholt PAA

Catchment Description Carrigaholt village is located at the mouth of the Moyana_010. Carrigaholt Bay is a designated Shellfish Water. The Bay is located within the Lower River Shannon Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and the River Shannon and River Fergus Estuaries Special Protection Area (SPA). Land use in the PAA is almost entirely pasture with one village (Cross) on the waterbody boundary to the south west and two smaller settlements along the western and north western boundaries.

Water Quality in the Carrigaholt PAA Rivers are classified into five quality classes (status), with high being unpolluted and bad being the most polluted.

High Good Moderate Poor Bad

The Environmental Protection Agency assign status at (approximately) 3-yearly intervals based on the standards set out in European legislation, the Water Framework Directive. Status is based on many different elements that altogether indicate the overall health of the river, for example the ecology recorded in river habitats, the physico-chemical condition of the river (oxygen levels, nutrient concentrations, indicators of organic and chemical pollution etc) and also the physical condition of the riverbed and bank. We need to make sure that the Carrigaholt PAA achieves Good Status. We have reviewed water quality data available and we have found that: Moyana_010 has been at Poor biological status from 1997 to date. It was at Bad status when assessed in the late 1980’s.

Sources of Pollution Pollutants find their way to rivers by a number of paths: • They can be piped directly to the river from large sources such as wastewater treatment plants, or small sources such as faulty septic tanks, farmyards, roadside drains etc. • They can flow across the ground to the river when nutrients which are applied to the land as fertiliser are washed off by rainfall before the crop and soil has absorbed them. This is usually a problem where soils are wetter and poorly draining, particularly during wet weather. • Groundwater losses can occur when pollutants move down through the soil and rock into groundwater and eventually into rivers, lakes and coastal waters. This is common in free draining/lighter soils and can occur when too much fertiliser is applied to land, or when the soil isn’t ready to absorb the nutrient (e.g. temperatures too cold, incorrect soil pH etc). This pathway is less likely for the Carrigaholt PAA because soils are not generally free draining here.

From our desk study, we believe that nutrients and sediment are the most likely issues impacting water quality in this PAA. Excessive nutrients can lead to impacts including increased algal growth and depletion of oxygen for invertebrates (such as mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly) and fish. Excessive sediment can impact on habitat, particularly for fish.

Agriculture Agriculture is identified as one of the main sources of pollution in the PAA. Soils are poorly draining across the sub basin and peaty in the headwaters so the risk of sediment and phosphate loss to the river is high particularly in wet weather. Land drainage increases the risk of sediment and nutrients being lost to the river. Farm effluents may also travel into rivers from farmyards if there is a direct pathway, for example via field drains.

Domestic wastewater treatment systems Pathways (pipes/drains) may also exist for effluent from domestic wastewater treatment systems to reach the river.

Other pollution sources may also be identified during our fieldwork.

Next Steps Community Engagement Meetings We held a community information meeting via Zoom on the 8th of September 2020 to tell the public about our work and to hear about water quality concerns from people living in the area. Issues raised at the meeting included: • General water quality questions including where samples have been taken and the reasons for the water quality problems. • Communications, how will we communicate our findings? will we have another meeting to do this? • Discussion about a project that has been proposed for the catchment looking at alternatives to domestic wastewater treatment systems.

Local Catchment Assessment LAWPRO’s catchment scientists will carry out fieldwork to identify the areas which present the highest risk of nutrient and sediment loss to the river system. We will assess biology by taking kick samples at different points on the channel. We will start at bridge access points to identify which reaches of the river system are impacted. We will carry out stream walks and look for possible sources of pollution. We will also look for other possible sources of pollution. A report on the outcome of this local catchment assessment work will be published here when available.

The table below gives some summary information on waterbody status, possible water quality issues and sources of pollution for the waterbodies in the Carrigaholt PAA.

Table 1 Ecological status, pressures and significance in the Carrigaholt PAA

Ecological Status EPA Characterisation Significant EPA Characterisation Desk Study Review Desk Study Review WB 2007 2010 2013 2016 Pressure Significant Issue Potential Additional Potential WB Code WB Name Risk Type – – – -- Category (Sub-category) (2013-2015) Pressures Significant Issue 2009 2012 2015 2018 (2013-2015) (2021) (2021) IE_SH_27M Moyana _010 River At Risk Good Poor Poor Poor Agriculture (Pasture) Nutrient Pollution None Nutrients 010150 Industry (Section 4) (phosphate & Domestic Wastewater (Single ammonia) and House Discharges) sediment WFD monitoring point, ‘Bridge southwest of Lissagreenaun’

WFD monitoring point, ‘northwest of Rahona lodge’