Centre for Freshwater and Environmental StudiesSchool of Health and Science

Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies

State-of-the-art research facility Research funding of in excess of

€4.5 million

CFES carries out research in the following four areas:

1. Lake and catchment management

2. Wastewater and wetlands

3. Organic resource management

4. Sustainable water in developing countries

Extensive national and international collaborations

Lake and Catchment Management

Catchment management and source protection planning for rural water schemes Use of state-of-the-art high frequency sensors to monitor surface waters COST Action ES 1201 NETLAKE (www.netlake.org) Climate change impacts on water quality and availability – Ireland and Uganda Outreach and stakeholder involvement – e.g. education programme for primary

schools developed with National Federation of GWSs (www.worldofwater.ie)

Cattle poaching close to lake abstraction point inflow stream

Cattle poaching close to lake abstraction point inflow stream

Discharge pipe into lake abstraction point inflow stream

Excessive algal growth in stream flowing into a lake abstraction

Source protection of raw water through measures to limit or eliminate risk of water contamination.

Sustainable Water for Developing Countries

Water is Life project

Funded by Irish Aid/HEA Programme for Strategic Co-operation and aims to:- Support research with a

“water-centred” focus- In particular

Water sourcing,

Impacts on community health and gender

443 million school days are lost each year due to water-

related diseases

UNESCO

40 billion working hours are spent carrying water

each year in Africa

Households in rural Africa spend an average of 26%

of their time fetching water –

high female burden

WaterAid

Wastewater and Alternative Wastewater Treatment Management

• Investigating the effect of on-site wastewater treatment systems (OSWTS) on surface water

Aiming to understand contaminant pathways & provide data on the contribution of OSWTS to nutrient loading within catchment.

Use of novel non-invasive geophysical techniques in collaboration with QUB, to track effluent plumes.

Integrated Constructed Wetlands for the treatment of domestic wastewater

Association with University of Salford and Monaghan CoCo. Based at ICW plant on grounds of the Castle Leslie Estate, Glaslough, Co. Monaghan. Aims to assess of the potential for groundwater contamination from unlined ICW treating domestic wastewater

FUSION PROJECT – AWP Environmental (Ireland) Ltd T/A Viltra, Co. Dublin.

The project aims to develop a hybrid wastewater treatment system and bring to the market.

Organic Resources Research

Organic Resources Research – Dr Siobhan Jordan

Dr Eleanor JenningsCFES Director

Email. eleanor.jennings@dkit.ieTel. +353 42 937 0200, ext. 2804

Contact details