1. Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Studies School of Health and Science

2. 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:
Lake and catchment management
Wastewater and wetlands
Organic resource management
Sustainable water in developing countries
Extensive national and international collaborations

3. 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 (
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 (

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

5. 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
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
443 million school days are lost each year due to water- related diseases
UNESCO

6. 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.

7. Organic Resources Research – Dr Siobhan Jordan
Biomass to bioethanol
Biomass to biogas
Bioremediation technology
Organic waste management

8. Contact details Dr Eleanor Jennings CFES Director.
Tel , ext. 2804