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Public Supply Source Protection Areas Ireland (ROI) ITM

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Public Water Supplies (PWSs) are managed by Irish Water, Ireland's national water utility, since 2013. Before this, public water supplies were managed by Local Authorities. More than 70% of public supplies take groundwater from boreholes, springs and infiltration galleries. This accounts for about 23% by volume (Irish Water, 2018).

Source Protection Areas (SPAs) are areas outlined around groundwater abstraction points (e.g. borehole or spring) which provide drinking water. The aim of the SPAs is to protect groundwater by placing tighter controls on activities within all or part of the zone of contribution (ZOC) of the source. The Zone of Contribution (ZOC) is the land area that contributes water to the well or spring.

Two Source Protection Areas (SPAs) are outlined. The Inner Protection Area (SI) aims to protect against the effects of human activities that might have an immediate effect on the source and, in particular, against microbial pollution. The Outer Protection Area (SO) covers the rest of the zone of contribution (ZOC) to the groundwater abstraction point.

Not all groundwater-fed public supply sources have SPAs outlined around them. Most studies (more than 125) have been carried out by the Geological Survey Ireland as part of County Groundwater Protection Schemes. The Environmental Protection Agency carried out more than 40 studies as part of the national groundwater monitoring network characterisation. Further studies have been carried out by consultancies for Local Authorities and Irish Water.

Different methods are used to map the entire Zone of Contribution to a spring, borehole or well, resulting in different degrees of confidence associated with the boundaries of the delineated area. To be able to specify the Inner Protection Zone within the entire Zone of Contribution, knowledge or estimates of groundwater travel time within the aquifer are needed (e.g. from site-specific hydrogeological parameters or tracer tests).

Source Protection Areas have been mapped by the GSI and EPA following the ‘GSI method’ (e.g., GSI/EPA/IGI Source Protection Zonation course, 2009; Kelly, 2010; DELG/EPA/GSI, 1999). These SPAs were mapped as part of County Groundwater Protection Schemes or as part of the WFD Groundwater Monitoring network characterisation. Other SPAs have been mapped by consultants for Local Authorities/Irish Water. They have not been peer-reviewed by the GSI.

The Zone of Contribution and the Source Protection Area account for the ‘horizontal’ movement of groundwater. Source Protection Zones are obtained by integrating the Source Protection Areas with the groundwater vulnerability categories. The Source Protection Zone includes the complete pathway, both vertical and horizontal, for re-charge and any entrained contaminants to the abstraction point.

Whereas the aim of delineating ZOCs is to define approximate areas that contribute water to an abstraction point, the aim of SPZs is to geo-scientifically characterise the pathway and receptor elements of risk to groundwater within the ZOC of a given source (Kelly, 2010). EPA prepared an advice note on “Source Protection and Catchment Management to protect Groundwater Supplies” that outlines the key measures and policies in place in Ireland (EPA, 2011).

This map shows the location of SPA's which have been mapped around public supplies of groundwater in Ireland.

This map is to the scale 1:20,000. This means it should be viewed at that scale. When printed at that scale 1cm on the map relates to a distance of 200m.

It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas).

The data is shown as polygons. Each polygon holds information on Source Protection Area such as name, code, id, data source, county, reviewed by GSI and links to online reports.

Data Resources (5)

WMS
WMS
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SHP
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ESRI REST
ESRI REST
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DATA VIEWER
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Source Protection Zone Reports
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Data Resource Preview - WMS

Theme Science
Date released 2012-01-12
Date updated 2021-10-22
Dataset conforms to these standards The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.
Rights notes ['Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)', 'Data that is produced directly by the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) is free for use under the conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.\n\nhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\n\nhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode\n\nUnder the CC-BY Licence, users must acknowledge the source of the Information in their product or application.\n\nPlease use this specific attribution statement: "Contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence".\n\nIn cases where it is not practical to use the statement users may include a URI or hyperlink to a resource that contains the required attribution statement.', 'license']
Update frequency Other
Language English
Landing page https://gsi.geodata.gov.ie/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d333a8a9b6ab44378411fc0d973db4ef
Geographic coverage in GeoJSON format {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-10.47472, 51.44555],[-10.47472, 55.37999], [-6.01306, 55.37999], [-6.01306, 51.44555], [-10.47472, 51.44555]]]}
Spatial Reference Systems (SRS) Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM, EPSG:2157)
Vertical Extent {"verticalDomainName": "sea level", "minVerticalExtent": "0", "maxVerticalExtent": "0"}
Provenance information Originator - Groundwater Section, Geological Survey Ireland. Most of the Source Protection Areas were delineated as part of County Groundwater Protection Schemes (DELG/EPA/GSI, 1999). GSI delineated more than 125. As part of the WFD Grounwater monitoring network characterisation, EPA delineated more than 40. The methodology used to delineate the SPAs is summarised in Kelly (2010), and GSI/EPA/IGI, 2009. It includes: liaising with the Local Authorities (LAs) to identify key sources and facilitate data collection from key staff, a desk study, a site visit to inspect the supply, the local area, interview the caretaker and collect more data. Field work included short pumping tests, drilling in the potential ZOC to determine the thickness and permeability of the overlying protective subsoils, hydrogeological data collection (e.g. groundwater levels, spring or stream flows, karst feature mapping) and collation. The data were then analysed by hydrogeologists using hydrogeological knowledge and interpretation in order to delineate the SPA. The main digital data sources, coupled with data on use and abstraction from the local authority/Irish Water, include: (1) GSI bedrock geology maps at 1:100,000; (2) GSI bedrock aquifer maps at 1:100,000; (3) GSI sand and gravel aquifer maps at 1:40,000; (4) GSI groundwater vulnerability maps at 1:40,000; (5) GSI Quaternary sediments and geomorphology maps at 1: 50,000 scale; (6) Teagasc soils maps at 1:40,000; (7) OSI High resolution digitalglobe orthophotography dataset and national digital premium basemap map service cached from 1:4,000,000 to 1:1,000 scale; (8) EPA surface water body data at 1:50,000; Hydrogeological interpretation of the data allowed delineation of the SPAs by GSI staff, consultants working on behalf of EPA, and consultants working on behalf of Local Authorities/Irish Water. The SPAs for GSI and EPA underwent a review process within the Groundwater Programme, GSI. Other SPAs may not have been peer reviewed. Many groundwater specialists have undertaken Source Protection Area delineation with GSI (since 1995) and for the EPA (since 2009). The authors of the reports are listed on the front cover of individual reports. The methodology undertaken to delineate the ZOCs includes: liaising with the GWS and NFGWS to facilitate data collection, a desk study, a site visit to inspect the supply, the local area, and to record groundwater level(s). The data were then analysed by groundwater experts using hydrogeological knowledge and interpretation in order to delineate the ZOC. The main digital data sources, coupled with data on use and abstraction from the group schemes themselves, include: (1) GSI bedrock geology maps at 1:100,000; (2) GSI bedrock aquifer maps at 1:100,000; (3) GSI sand and gravel aquifer maps at 1:40,000; (4) GSI groundwater vulnerability maps at 1:40,000; (5) GSI Quaternary sediments and geomorphology maps at 1: 50,000 scale; (6) Teagasc soils maps at 1:40,000; (7) OSI High resolution digitalglobe orthophotography dataset and national digital premium basemap map service cached from 1:4,000,000 to 1:1,000 scale; (8) EPA surface water body data at 1:50,000; Hydrogeological interpretation of the data allowed delineation of the ZOC by consultants. The ZOCs underwent a review process by Groundwater Programme, GSI, to reach a consensus on the final version of the ZOC.
Period of time covered (begin) 2008-01-16
Period of time covered (end) 2011-07-14