Midlands Pristine River Waters To Be Highlighted This Weekend

Thursday, 17 August 2023 14:05

It is part of a promotion which encourages protection and improvements in community waters.

Pristine waters in the midlands will be highlighted at a National Heritage Week event this weekend.

Over the last number of months, several initiatives have been carried out in Kinnitty, as part of the 'Blue Dot' promotion, which encourages communities to protect and improve their waters.

This scheme has classified the area as having some of the top 1% of river waters in the country.

The event, to further engage the 'Blue Dot' promotion within the community, takes place in the Kinnitty Community Centre this Sunday at 8pm.

According to local Community Water Officer, Cathal Flood:

‘The ‘Blue Dot’ Catchments Programmes vision, administered by the Local Authority Waters Programme, is to collaborate with local communities to protect and improve our pristine waters so that the benefits to biodiversity, health and well-being, heritage and the climate can be enjoyed by current and future generations’.

Kinnitty based Councillor John Clendennen has been liaising with Cathal along with other officials at the Local Authority Waters Programme to identify ways to engage the community and highlight the importance of the pristine waters:

‘We are extremely fortunate to have waters of such high quality in the Slieve Blooms, particularly when less than 1% of river water nationwide is classified as pristine and it’s important they are protected through community engagement’.

Signs have been erected at the village green to encourage people to visit and enjoy the nearby rivers.

A workshop and colouring competition was launched at Kinnitty National School in an effort to inform children in the community of their responsibility as custodians to protect this important resource.

Professor John Feehan will be the guest speaker at the event on Sunday.

He is a native of Birr and is one of Ireland's leading geologists, botanists, environmental communicators, authors and broadcasters.

He will discuss how the Camcor river shaped the landscape around the village.

Tickets for the event are available at EventBrite or email cflood@lawaters.ie.

All are welcome to attend the event and refreshments will be served.

Cllr. Clendennen continued:

‘This should be an informative event for all ages, hopefully the engagement we saw with national school children will be replicated and the objective to promote the importance of protecting our pristine waters in the locality will be achieved and future funding will be secured to ensure future events and initiatives’.