The Pathways Project aims to address the challenge of developing a better understanding of hydrological processes, water-borne contaminant fate and transport, and the subsequent impact of these contaminants on aquatic ecosystems in Irish River Basin Districts (RBDs). The project will develop a Catchment Management Tool (CMT) that may be employed by RBD management to ensure that good Water Framework Directive (WFD) status is achieved and/or maintained by 2015. CMT development requires the following project objectives to be addressed: 1.Identification of significant hydrological pathways within RBDs; 2.Quantification of flows along the identified hydrological pathways; 3.Identification of the significance of these pathways for diffuse pollutant transport and attenuation, with particular emphasis on the attenuation of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus species), and particulate matter (pathogenic micro-organisms and sediments); 4.Identification of critical source areas contributing diffuse pollutants to groundwater, surface water and relevant ecological receptors; and 5.Development of a CMT employing data collected during the study in line with the requirements of the end-user. The project literature report aims to provide an overview of current understanding and knowledge gaps in relation to diffuse contaminant flow and attenuation pathways and the assessment of the impact of these contaminants on aquatic receptors in rivers and streams. The hydrological conceptual model proposed for the Pathways Project to act as the basis for further study is based on that developed by the Working Group on Groundwater and adopted in the recent Irish surface water and groundwater interactions study (RPS, 20081). This model identifies five main pathways: 1.Overland flow; 2.Interflow; 3.Shallow groundwater flow; 4.Deep groundwater flow; and 5.Discrete fault/conduit flow. In the Pathways Project, it is proposed to apply a range of physical and chemical hydrograph separation techniques, developed using high-resolution field data from selected study catchments and existing literature, to quantify flow along different pathways. Mathematical modelling of hydrograph responses using the integrated hydrological water quality data sets collected will shed further light on contaminant transport/attenuation and further strengthen confidence in CMT outputs. Primary knowledge gaps in Ireland concerning pathway contributions to hydrological budgets include a proper understanding of contaminant transport and attenuation processes occurring in interflow, flow through drains, and overland flow at the field scale. The Pathways Project aims to add to knowledge of these issues. This report examines the current literature available on transport and attenuation of these contaminants and identifies knowledge gaps that focus research objectives. Ultimately the impact of contaminants of concern on catchment aquatic biota must be assessed. Aquatic biota integrates the effects of prevailing physico chemical conditions in freshwater habitats and is considered the receptor in the WFD. Currently, efforts to understand biological responses to various stressors are curtailed by the scarcity of reliable high-frequency integrated hydrological/water quality data. Technical reports have now been added to this resource - June 2015

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Archbold, M.   "Contaminant Movement and Attenuation along Pathways from the Land Surface to Aquatic Receptors - A Review". 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=2aac27cd-58bc-102e-a0a4-f81fb11d7d1c (Last Accessed: 2025-03-28)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=196
Resource Keywords	Pathways Aquatic Water Framework Directive Catchment Groundwater
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2007-WQ-CD-1-S1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Water Quality
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	The reliability, quality and completeness of data gained through SAFER-Data is intended to be used in an education or research context. These data are not guaranteed for use in operational or decision-making settings. The EPA and SAFER-Data requests an acknowledgement (in publications, conference papers, etc) from those who use data/information received with SAFER-Data. This acknowledgement should state the original creators of the data/information. An automated citation is provided below. It is not ethical to publish data/information without proper attribution or co-authorship. The data/information are the intellectual property of the collecting investigator(s). The data/information may be freely downloaded and used by all who respect the restrictions and requirements in the previous paragraphs.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	10
Project Start Date	Monday 1st January 2007 (01-01-2007)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 1st January 2007 (01-01-2007)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Wednesday 1st December 2010 (01-12-2010)
Published on SAFER	Tuesday 14th December 2010 (14-12-2010)
Date of Last Edit	Wednesday 3rd June 2015 at 09:47:22 (03-06-2015)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Wednesday 3rd June 2015 at 09:46:40 (03-06-2015)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
The project literature report aims to provide an overview of current understanding and knowledge gaps in relation to diffuse contaminant flow and attenuation pathways and the assessment of the impact of these contaminants on aquatic receptors in rivers and streams. The geographical extent is that of the Water Framework Directive in Ireland.

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The following is a list of projects, datasets, and resources on SAFER-Data from which users downloaded attachments from soon after downloading attachments from this resource Contaminant Movement and Attenuation along Pathways from the Land Surface to Aquatic Receptors - A Review. You can view the full description for projects, datasets, and resources by using the links supplied.

• A Framework for the Assessment of Groundwater - Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems under the Water Framework Directive View Full Metadata Description
• Soil Geochemical Atlas of Ireland View Full Metadata Description
• Water Framework Directive: Recharge and Groundwater Vulnerability View Full Metadata Description
• ILLUMINATE: Past, current and future Interactions between pressures, chemicaL status and bioLogical qUality eleMents for lakes IN contrAsting catchmenTs in IrEland View Full Metadata Description
• Eutrophication From Agricultural Sources - Soil and Phosphorus: Catchment Studies View Full Metadata Description

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