What is Catchment Management?
A water catchment is the area of land which collects water and feeds it into a river network. NI Water own over 9,400 hectares of land in drinking water catchment areas and overall there are over 1,000,000 hectares of land in drinking water catchments for us to manage in NI.Why is Catchment Management Important?
Poor land management practices in our drinking water catchments, diffuse pollution problems and climate change all have an effect on the quality of the raw water NI Water abstracts from our 34 water abstraction points to treat at our 23 Water Treatment Works.
Raw water quality challenges we face in our catchments include:
- Agricultural practices such as pesticide pollution, in particular MCPA
- Windfarm construction and forestry operations
- River bankside erosion and peatland erosion
- Wildfire management
- Climate change
Poor raw water quality results in problems during treatment and incurs significant cost.
Through management of catchment activities, NI Water are addressing these raw water quality matters ‘at source’.
Through our sustainable catchment management, NI Water is improving the quality of raw water before it goes through the treatment process and continuing to produce the highest quality drinking water for our customers.
What is SCaMP?
The Sustainable Catchment Area Management Programme Northern Ireland (SCaMP NI) aims to improve the quality and reliability of the water through sustainable catchment-based solutions that focus on protecting and enhancing the natural environment.
We aim to use fewer chemicals and less energy to treat drinking water, which is good news for our customers and our beautiful environment.
Our mission statement is:
“To improve the quality and reliability of the raw water received at NI Water’s raw water abstraction points through sustainable catchment-based solutions that focus on protecting the natural environment through achieving favourable condition and habitat improvement."