The first virtual Water Café of 2020 took place on January 28th with guest speak Brian MacDomhnaill of the National Federation of Group Water Schemes. Brian presented the background of the NFGWS and the work they are doing with numerous group water schemes throughout Ireland.
Brian spoke at length about the history behind rural water supply in Ireland and the how the development of the rural water programme played a vital role in implementing the action plan for rural water quality. Brian brought us right the way through explaining the essential practical resources and supports the NFGWS bring to rural communities and the challenges they face today such as the abundant use of herbicides and pesticides impacting the source of many schemes. Brian closed the presentation with some really interesting information around the importance of the source protection strategy that they have issued which can be found here https://nfgws.ie/the-nfgws-and-source-protection/. We would sincerely like to thank Brian for such an interesting presentation which gave rise to so many other areas for discussion.