Good practice:

Local Authorities Water Programme (LAWPRO)

The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) is a new way of working to achieve better water quality. It is a service working with Local Authorities and state agencies to improve water quality by developing and implement Water Framework Directive (WFD) River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) in Ireland. LAWPRO aims to:
• Support and coordinate public bodies and other stakeholders to implement RNMPs
• To engage and activate local communities
LAWPRO enables local authorities and other stakeholders to navigate the institutional complexity of river basin management in Ireland, which in all cases involves several regional or state organisations including local authorities (city/county councils), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Inland Fisheries Ireland as well as local stakeholders such as land owners (farmers) and user groups (e.g. anglers).
LAWPRO has two teams:
The Communities Team supports communities and stakeholders to deliver of local water quality projects and initiatives, as well as emerging river trusts and catchment partnerships. The team also provides a necessary link between active communities and funding streams (e.g. LEADER).
The catchments team is made up of scientists implementing measures identified in priority Areas For Action aimed at improving water quality. These measures include river assessments and stream walks to understand issues affecting water quality as well as working with local groups including farmers to develop workable solutions.

Human resources nationally:
•Director of Services
•1 Project Lead (Catchment Assessment Team)
•3 Coordinators
•5 Catchment Managers
•13 Community Water Officers
•31 Catchment Scientists
•3 Specialist Staff (Head Office)
•1Administration Manager
•2 Administration Support Staff

LAWPRO is considered good practices because it enables and empowers bottom up action to meet local regional and ultimately national needs by engaging directly with stakeholders, promoting and targeting specific action areas and activities in a cost efficient and effective way.

All regions are faced with similar tansboundary and community stakeholder challenges when implementing WFD and in the more general management of water resources and multiple uses of water (e.g. agriculture fishing). We consider LAWPRO as a potentially interesting practice for other regions because it enables action at the appropriate spatial scales, it fosters community involvement and brings together multiple sectors toward a common regional objectives. The system is designed such that practices in one region nationally (within Ireland) can be transferred and applied to other regions.