The WaterBlitz

Many groups took part in the recent “WaterBlitz” monitoring campaign across the country in May 2021. This is an international EarthWatch project and in Ireland the programme was coordinated by Dublin City University (DCU) who sent out sampling kits on a first-come first-served basis to applicants across Ireland. We have three sets of results from our Longford groups all showing low nitrate and phosphate concentrations – the River Camlin near Newtownforbes and in Clondra Village plus Cloonkeen Stream in Ardagh. Results for these are below. Check out Twitter for lots more on the 2021 WaterBlitz. The final summary report for Ireland is available at: https://dcuwater.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Binder5WATERBLITZFINAL-compressed.pdf.

Nitrate sample from Camlin River near Newtownforbes taken by John O’Brien
Phosphate sample from Camlin River near Newtownforbes taken by John O’Brien
The River Camlin near Newtownforbes was in the 0.02 to 0.05 mg/l P range for phosphate and nitrates were in the 0.2 to 0.5 mg/l N – i.e. both in the lower end of the test range sensitivity and indicating good water quality for these important nutrients – the lower the better.
Francesca took a sample from the Cloonkeen Stream in Ardagh – Nitrate was close to the lowest concentration of 0.2 mg/l N
The phosphate sample from the Cloonkeen Stream in Ardagh was also at the lowermost end of the scale
Francesca also measured the pH in the Cloonkeen Stream in Ardagh and it was slightly above the neutral pH 7 which is to be expected in this part of the country.
Anne Skelly sampled the Camlin in Clondra Village and obtained similar results: in the 0.02 to 0.05 mg/l P range for phosphate and nitrates were in the 0.2 to 0.5 mg/l N.