To fulfil the obligations of the Water Framework Directive a river typology within Ecoregion 17 had to be produced. The objective of this study was to survey 50 sites within the Republic of Ireland that had been previously classified as high quality by the Irish EPA, determine whether these were of high ecological status (and thus could be used as reference conditions) and to use these spatial reference sites to develop the river typology.The biological elements: macroinvertebrates, phytobenthos and macrophytes, were surveyed at all 50 sites during 2002/2003. Chemistry (ammonia, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, hardness, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride and sulphate) and basic hydromorphological variables (sediment, bank slope etc) were measured during the same period to ensure reference status. Q-values, TDI and MTR scores were applied to the biological elements to judge reference status, although it was acknowledged that these methods may not be appropriate since different river types cannot be directly compared using these measures.Potential deviations from reference status were identified by the biological elements, chemistry and hydromorphology at 23 sites, although coincidence of impact indication from the different elements only occurred at 6 sites. Agreement of a biological response with chemistry only occurred at one site (MOY2). Despite potential minor impacts it was considered that the development of the typology would suffer more from the omission of river types than from the effect of the potential impacts. Thus, no sites were excluded, though the status of MOY2 and OGLIN1 should be reviewed in future developments.Several typologies were developed from this dataset: Expert-based, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) based, the WFD System A Typology and typologies developed from permutations of different environmental variables and variable boundaries. The permutation-based typologies best segregated the biological elements across all groups, and with combined biological data. A 12-category permutation based typology was recommended as the best typology, and has now been accepted by the EPA. Categorisation of the 50 sites, indicator species and frequency of different species are shown for the twelve different river types within this typology.

Go back to top of page Top

Go back to top of page Top

Please Read Carefully Before Downloading

It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.

EPA SAFER Data Download Disclaimer: Before downloading any of the data or information objects below you are kindly asked to read the data download disclaimer Read Disclaimer (Opens in New Window). Downloading data or information objects from SAFER-Data indicates an acceptance of the data download disclaimer and the conditions outlined within it.

Suggested Citation Information

The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.

An example of this citation in proper usage:

Kelly-Quinn, M.P. Bradley, C. Rippey, B. Harrington, J.T.   "Characterisation of Reference Conditions and Testing of Typology of Rivers (RIVTYPE)". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=4256cd09-2f42-102a-b1da-b128b41032cc (Last Accessed: 2024-10-11)

Permalink

Go back to top of page Top

SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=10
Resource Keywords	Phytobenthos Macrophyte Macroinvertebrate Hydromorphology data
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2002-W-LS-7
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Water Quality
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	Further analysis by the researchers and publications are pending in 2006. Any usage of data by other parties must be attributed to the project authors and referenced to this project or to the relevant publications. Final report: Kelly-Quinn et al. (2005) Water Framework Directive Characterisation of reference conditions and testing of typology of rivers, EPA ERTDI Report Series No. 31
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	8
Project Start Date	Tuesday 1st October 2002 (01-10-2002)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Tuesday 1st October 2002 (01-10-2002)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Wednesday 1st October 2003 (01-10-2003)
Published on SAFER	Thursday 29th March 2007 (29-03-2007)
Date of Last Edit	Wednesday 17th October 2018 at 12:29:33 (17-10-2018)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Wednesday 17th October 2018 at 12:22:54 (17-10-2018)

Go back to top of page Top

Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Fifty potential reference sites, which were likely to be of high ecological status, were selected by the EPA for macroinvertebrate, phytobenthos and macrophyte surveys. Detailed station location information available in the full report. Bounding Boxes should the main geographical regions.

Go back to top of page Top

In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset

Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.

Go back to top of page Top

The following is a list of similiar projects and resources on SAFER. Usually these resources share a similiar thematic area to the resource Characterisation of Reference Conditions and Testing of Typology of Rivers (RIVTYPE) you are currently viewing. You can view the full description for these projects and resources by using the links supplied.

• Identification and evaluation of phosphorus recovery technologies in an Irish context View Full Metadata Description
• Drinking Water Monitoring Results and Water Supply Details for Ireland - Year 2020 View Full Metadata Description
• Assessment of the impacts of forest operations on the ecological quality of water (HYDROFOR) - Dataset Information View Full Metadata Description
• Spring hydrograph data: benefits, measurement methods, interpretations and pitfalls View Full Metadata Description
• Spatial analysis of groundwater nitrate monitoring data in the SE of Ireland View Full Metadata Description

Go back to top of page Top