National Freshwater Centre

The National Centre for Freshwater Studies was recently established (in June 2005) in association with the National Federation of Group Water Schemes. The Centre’s objective is to develop new strategies and technologies, based on new scientific research, that will protect and restore ground water, surface water and ecosystems impacted by man-made and natural processes.

Detailed studies are ongoing in a number of areas including:

• Paleolimnology and multi-proxy approaches;
• Assessments of water quality using a combination of macrophyte and macroinvertebrate indices;
• The use of epilithic diatom communities as water quality indicators;
• Comparative studies on legislation, guidelines and best practice approaches for Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC) management;
• Gamma spectrometry use in the dating of lake sediments;
• Hydroponics and wetland plant species in relation to slurry and sewage;
• Competitive exclusion of native diatom species in relation to introduced species, catchment spread and characteristics;
• Prerequisites and inhibitors governing the survival of Lemna minor in aquatic ecosystems;
• Remediation of acid mine drainage through constructed wetlands - greenhouse trials;
• The extent of septic tank contamination of surface and groundwater;
• Research methods into the processing of mixed municipal waste (MMW) - in association with ReGen Waste Ltd;
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications;
• Aquatic biodiversity across a range of salinity gradients from marine to freshwater.

For more information visit here.