24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Risk Assessment Refinement Use field data to refine Article 5 risk assessment pressure thresholds Aerial Imagery Capture and Processing Derive Channel TypologiesDevelop Remote Sensing Methods Fieldwork Contracts 2006 and 2007 Morphology and Biology Field Data Programmes of Measures Populate a morphology database Developing the Morphological Assessment Process RISK ASSESSMENT CLASSIFICATION & MONITORING PoMS STUDY Decision Support Tool

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Classification and Monitoring Rapid Assessment Technique Mary Toland Water Management Unit

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline AVAILABLE METHODS River Habitat Survey – developed by the EA (early 1990s) –not designed for WFD MImAS – developed by SNIFFER (2005) and currently used by SEPA for regulation- pressures RAT – developed by NSSHARE project (2005) –deviation from natural for classification NOT regulation CEN hydromorphology standard –not signed off yet

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Surveys were carried out by NSSHARE using RAT and MImAS

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Hydromorphology scores from MImAS, RAT and expert opinion were compared for river sites in ecoregion 17

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Outcome Report showed 60% agreement between RAT and MImAS and 60% agreement between RAT and Expert opinion

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Comparison study with Draft CEN standard on River Hydromorphology Results from CEN and RAT assessments matched in 50% of cases and were within one class for a further 40% of sites

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Chosen method for monitoring and classification RAT was agreed by experts in ROI and NI to be:- Cost effective User friendly Flexible Easy to use and Rapid Fit for purpose – WFD monitoring and classification

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Next Steps RAT refinement Method refined during 2007 season Feature descriptions developed Methods for quantifying features refined Tick boxes added for recording artificial features More user friendly and quality controlled

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Refinement was carried out in line with the CEN standard starting with the ecology

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline BANK VEGETATION Site visits were made with ecologists from Water Management Unit and Natural Heritage to define the quality of bank and riparian land cover

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Alien or invasive Bank vegetation? RhododendronSycamore

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline IN CHANNEL VEGETATION The abundance and types of macrophytes expected for different river types was defined with assistance from colleagues in EHS, Natural Heritage and UK’s Nigel Holmes

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Surveyors need to recognize alien species in channel and pollution indicator species. The broad types and abundance of vegetation present should be compared with those expected for the river type

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Site visits were made with Rivers Agency to identify maintenance work and establish floodplain information available. It was established some resectioning carried out in the 1940’s still presents as sheer river banks with little or no plant growth

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Stream types refined After consultation between EPA and EHS anastomosing and braided wandering stream types were removed from the RAT form. Other stream types such as calcareous can be added if required.

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Hydrology is important for all aquatic ecology A whole water body approach is required with structures causing a barrier to longitudinal flow scored for RAT

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Contiguous surveys are underway to determine survey length required to classify a water body

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline What’s needed now RAT form and survey method to be refined with surveyors – Castlebar 30 th April 2008 Establish how many sites per water body are required for classification – contiguous surveys underway Water body desk top study defined using GIS and hydro-morphology database established Training Manual – being developed Training course and surveyor accreditation – To be arranged

24 Hour Freephone Water Pollution Hotline Any Questions or feedback?