Two of Ireland’s leading environmental groups, the Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) and The Rivers Trust, have today called the Government’s sign off on the designation of a tenth (466) of our rivers, lakes and coastal waters as “Heavily Modified Water Bodies” [1], irresponsible and unacceptable.
“Heavily Modified Water Bodies” is a technical term that, in practice, means the waterbodies designated as such would no longer have to meet the same high standards for environmental health as other rivers and lakes.
A public consultation on the designation was held in May; however, the environmental bodies pointed out that the whole process was confusing, inaccessible, and difficult for communities to engage with. SWAN and the Rivers Trust called for the consultation to be redesigned and reopened at a later stage when the required analysis had been done, and as part of the development of the next national Water Action Plan. This call was backed by nearly a thousand members of the public in their submissions to the consultation [2]. However, this redesign will not go ahead, and the designations have now been signed off by Minister O’Sullivan.
“This is just unacceptable,” said Dr Elaine McGoff, Co-Chair of SWAN and Head of Advocacy for An Taisce.
“Ireland is locking in lower environmental ambition for nearly one in ten of our water bodies, without providing the evidence that such a drastic move is either necessary or justified. Designating 466 rivers and lakes as ‘heavily modified’ now, on the basis of incomplete analysis and an inaccessible, highly technical consultation, risks another breach of the EU Water Framework Directive and undermines public trust in water governance even further.
Last month, the European Court of Justice ruled that Ireland is already in breach of its obligations under the Water Framework Directive and that the public could now be facing fines for the government’s breaches of the EU’s wastewater directive. It all exposes the government’s lack of care for our water environment, and for the consequences of their poor water governance on the public.”
Dr Constanze O’Toole, Deputy Director of The Rivers Trust All-Ireland, said: “The Rivers Trust stands with SWAN in raising serious concerns over the lack of transparency and accessibility in this designation of heavily modified water bodies. Heavily modified status should be a last resort, and environmental decisions of this sort demand clear data and local knowledge. Labelling rivers as ‘heavily modified’ carries long-term consequences, so communities deserve accessible evidence and a genuine voice, which could have been given through the Catchment Community Fora, and integrated into the next River Basin Management Plan with robust analysis of alternative measures. Instead, the government has given the green light for lower environmental standards and widespread dredging, digging, and clearance works that will harm these rivers, their riverbanks and other wildlife habitats.”
[2] https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/e0d6bb20/HMWB_Designations_2025_Consultation_Report.pdf