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  • Third River Basin Management Plan for Northern Ireland

    Topics:
    • Water, 
    • River Basin Management

    Date published: 13 June 2025

    The 3rd cycle River Basin Management Plan for Northern Ireland covers the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2027.

    Northern Ireland’s water resources are managed and protected using a catchment-based approach which includes rivers, lakes and groundwater as well as coastal and transitional water bodies. The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 require the production and implementation of a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) in six yearly cycles. The plan gives an overview of Northern Ireland’s water bodies, describes the progress Northern Ireland made towards achieving the 2021 objectives, sets environmental objectives for 2027, identifies priority catchments; and provides information about the Programme of Measures of the third cycle RBMP to address the pressures acting upon the water environment. 

    External documents

    • Third Cycle River Basin Management Plan supporting documents

    Documents

    • NIEA Third Cycle River Basin Management Plan 2021 - 2027 Adobe PDF (4 MB)

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