The “Framework of Best Practice Measures & Guidelines for the Protection & Restoration of High Status River Water Bodies” or “Framework document” is available to all agency advisors, catchment scientists, and practitioners working in the water quality domain – see – Framework of Measures and Best Practice Guidance for High Status Objective River Water Bodies Published

The Framework document sets out fundamental principles relating landscape setting, measures selection, measure category, and what a High Status Objective Waterbody means.

Contained within the Framework document are 5 Annex’s. 1) Agriculture, 2) Forestry, 3) Peat Extraction, 4) Quarries, 5) Domestic Wastewater Treatment Systems.

Annex 1-4 contain a “menu” of mitigation measures for issues associated with these environmental pressures

Annex 1 for Agriculture contains 44 mitigation measures. No individual measure is expected to solve a water quality issue but this Annex aims to be a starting point from which a measures plan can be developed. An Effectiveness Score is attached to each measure to indicate its usefulness at reducing in the waterbody caused by the issue.  In a practical example it is expected that the measures will be stacked or combined and adapted to suit a particular scenario.

The Effectiveness Score is displayed in table form for each issue in Annex 1 and it categorises them by soil type – poorly vs well drained. A quick and easy excel form is also available for quickly looking up the effectiveness of individual measures in the context of the issue and the drainage type.

Please feel free to download and copy from the following Link – WOL_Agricultural_Measures_Effectiveness_231212

Feedback and suggestions on the measures is welcome.

Photo – Paul Duffy (Waters of LIFE)