The proposal for this project was to enhance the capability of mapping systems to integrate lake, river, estuary and coastal waterbodies, thereby providing a holistic approach to catchment management.

Dr. Michael Hartnet of NUIG developed a dispersion modeling system called MarGIS, which provides an innovative tool for the management of waterbodies.

The GIS mapping system is a predictive management system in determining the source of potential pollutants and could be used by planners to determine the impact of polluting activities.

Mayo County Council, NUIG, EPA, North Western Regional Fisheries and the Western River Basin Project were local partners in the development of the model to integrated river and estuarine water management.

The resulting model has the capacity to be applied to similar catchments with predominately rural landscapes. The mapping system has been developed to provide

predictions on potential pollution instances and the test parameters incorporated into the system comply with the Water-frame Work Directive.

The management tool enhance the planning process, acts as a determinant and predictive tool for acute and diffuse pollution and will contributes to the overall management of the river Moy, its estuary and Killala Bay.

Innovation

The GIS dispersion modelling system is innovative in that it is the first modelling

system to be developed that integrates all types of waterbodies (ground, river, lake estuarine and coastal) into a single system. It has been developed for catchments with predominately rural landscapes and complies specifically with the requirements of the Water-frame Directive as an integral tool for the holistic management of river basins and coastal zones. The system has been developed to enable non-technical personal to view maps, upload information and run potential polluting scenarios. Therefore it can be used as an educational tool for the general public as well as water management experts.

Trans-National Cooperation

The Cycleau project aims to form a shared, integrated approach to the planning and management of natural water resources in the coastal zone. At present, there is no common approach to this issue, even though it is a widespread problem in coastal areas. Many of Europe's coastal zones face problems of deterioration of their resources. Actions taken, or not taken, inland will affect what happens on the coast. Cycleau is taking an innovative perspective by combining resource planning and management in the coastal zone with whole area catchment planning and management. The modelling for the Moy Catchment showcases best practice in the integration of catchments and coastal zones into a single management tool. This action adds significantly to the technical aspects of the Cycleau project by demonstrating new technology in water management. The modeling system is not a conventional GIS system but a progression using specialised software into an area of water management that is considered to be fundamental in ensuring compliance with the WFD into the future. The proposed pilot project will provide invaluable information to our partners in assessing whether:

their current GIS data is compatible with modelling system,
if similar technology could be used on their catchments, and
if this technology would be of benefit to partner catchments.

The WFD places new responsibilities on EU member states to manage more effectively all water sources, rivers, lakes and estuaries. It is now firmly established that water quality modelling will play an important role in implementing this Directive, Schauser et al (2003).

Of equally important significance to this research is the fact that GIS is the main tool for

collating, analysing and visualising the data associated with all River Basins - in fact, GIS is referred to as 'the glue' holding all the pieces of data together and modelling is an extension of this.