Protection of Water Bodies Office

Back to Protection of Water Bodies

The Protection of Water Bodies Office (PWBO) has the remit to administer DCC’s legislative responsibilities under the:

  • EU Water Framework Directive 2000;
  • Water Pollution Act 1997;
  • Bathing Water Regulations 2008, and;
  • Water Services Act 2014 (Irish Water SLA).

The PWBO comprises of the Water Framework Directive section and the Water Pollution Control section.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD)  involves the enactment of EU and Irish legislation to bring Irish rivers, tidal zones, estuaries, lakes and ground waters up to good or higher ecological and water quality standards as well as maintaining good and high level status of pristine water bodies. On a national level, Ireland is required to meet the WFD objectives through a State based River Basin Management Plan (RBMP).

The Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government (DHPLG) advised in July 2014 that there would be a single national approach for the development of the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs).  The draft 3rd Cycle of the National River Basin Management Plan was launched in September 2021 with submissions required on it by 31st March 2022. This Office has prepared the DCC Draft submission for approval. The publication of the third cycle RBMP is imminent (RBMP 2022 – 2027).

Projects and activities ongoing with the WFD section include:

  • WFD projects (Seven DCC Waterbodies identified in the RBMP, namely, Mayne, Santry, Tolka, Liffey, Camac, Poddle, Dodder). – (See items 12 & 21 herein);
  • Community engagement (incl. schools);
  • Green & blue roof  trials including performance monitoring;
  • Planter boxes/Rain water retention initiatives, and;
  • GIS database and drainage asset management platform.

The Water Pollution Control (WPC) section is responsible for the protection of waters within Dublin City Council's administrative area. 'Waters' includes rivers, streams, ponds, groundwater, estuarine, tidal and bathing waters (Note: drinking water is under the remit of Irish Water).

Projects and activities ongoing with the WFD section include:

  • River and stream cleaning of obstructions that may give rise to flooding or significant impediment of the rivers flow. River racks and weirs are also cleared as debris may impede flow;
  • Licensing of discharges to waters or surface water sewer under Section 4 and Section 16 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977, as amended in 1990;
  • Domestic and Commercial misconnection inspections;
  • Surface water monitoring;
  • Bathing water monitoring and reporting (See item 23 herein);
  • Water Pollution incident response;
  • Implementation of measures under Water Framework Directive - we work closely with the Water Framework Directive Office to develop and implement a programme of measures with the objective of achieving or maintaining good status in all of Dublin City Council's water bodies, and;
  • Development of Coastal Oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) Contingency Plan and prevention.