Catchment Management Support Tools for Characterisation and Evaluation of Programme of Measures

Nutrient enrichment and eutrophication can negatively impact on freshwater ecosystems, estuarine and coastal waters. As a result of improvements in nutrient management and regulation, there has been a large reduction in total phosphorus, total ammonia and total nitrogen emissions from Irish catchments in recent decades. However, half of Irish river water bodies still require improvements to bring them to Good status, as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC). The Catchment Management Support Tools for Characterisation and Evaluation of Programme of Measures project, or CatchmentTools project, developed data analysis tools and models for assessing nutrients in Irish catchments to support catchment scientists and managers to (1) characterise nutrient sources, pathways and receptors in catchments and (2) assess potential mitigation measures.