Water resilience in Ireland: Why local action matters

25 May 2026

A CIWEM Republic of Ireland Branch event, held with Engineers Ireland, explored how improved communication, workforce renewal and community engagement can increase resilience in Ireland and beyond

Water is life. This is the striking opening line of the European Water Resilience Strategy (published on 04 July 2025). Water resilience describes the ability of water and wastewater services to survive and quickly adapt after disasters, whether natural or man-made.

This year, as a member of the CIWEM Republic of Ireland Branch, I helped organise an event in partnership with Engineers Ireland to discuss how water resilience can be delivered through local actions in a changing world. This event drew on John Curtin’s CIWEM presidential theme Green Roots, Growing Prosperity – which focuses on reframing environmental action as a driver of growth and particularly how local actions can contribute to it. The event highlighted that enhancing water resilience in Ireland requires local initiatives, workforce renewal and more communication between infrastructure operators, forecasters and communities.

The scale of the challenge

The first session included the presidents and the director general of the three main water and environmental institutions in Ireland and the UK. What stood out to me most was how John Curtin framed the current scale of the challenge facing the water sector. He highlighted that 2.2 billion people currently live in areas that could be flooded in what is known as a 1 in 100-year flood event – meaning that a flood has a 1% chance of happening in any given year. Climate change has increased global flood risk, disproportionately affecting those with the least economic power. In fact, the vast majority (89%) of people exposed to flood events with this level of risk live in low or middle income countries.

The starkness of these numbers notwithstanding, the session showed that meaningful progress is being made at a local level. More communities are collaborating on initiatives such as property level protection, nature-based solutions (NBS) for managing runoff, and increased reliance on renewable energy. What I found particularly important was John’s emphasis on communication and storytelling. Technical expertise is essential, but engineers and scientists also need to be able to explain complex ideas clearly if these measures are to gain public understanding and support.

The professional pipeline

The second session focused on how the sector can recruit and retain the skilled workforce it needs to support water resilience. CIWEM’s early careers president Emily Blaney noted that 69% of CIWEM members believe there is a lack of capacity to deliver on current industry commitments. She also pointed to the 2025 UK Water Industry Labour Report, which states that 66% of engineers say they will leave for another industry in the next year. Looking at engineering more broadly, research by Stonehaven suggests that 30% of Gen Z would not consider a career in this field, with many citing its male-dominated image as a barrier.

Engineers Ireland’s student and graduate engagement executive, Maeve Martin, discussed some of the ways they encourage students to join Engineers Ireland, such as student ambassadors, hackathons and coffee mornings. These activities can encourage students to consider a career in the water sector and inspire early interest in it.

What I took from this session is that improving water resilience will depend not only on technical expertise and investment, but also on creating a workforce that is stronger, more diverse and better supported. It also showed me that the sector needs engineers and scientists who can bridge gaps – between disciplines, with future talent and with local communities.

Left-to-right: Damien Owens, Emily Blaney, John Curtin, Youvrani Thimmegowda, Dave Ludgate, David Porter, Micheal O’Flatharta

Resilient Ireland

Session three focused on what actions are currently being taken in Ireland to improve its water resilience. Zuzana O’Neill, a water resources planner at Uisce Éireann (formally Irish Water), spoke about current plans to improve Ireland’s water infrastructure. To support this, Uisce Éireann has published the National Water Resources Plan, which is a 25-year strategy report for a sustainable, secure and reliable water supply in Ireland. Its central approach is to lose less through leakage reduction, use less through greater efficiency, and supply smarter through infrastructure improvements. By implementing these measures, the critical water infrastructure in Ireland will become much more resilient.

Rosemarie Lawlor, chief hydrometeorologist at Met Éireann, the Irish meteorological service, highlighted the role of forecasting in water resilience. Rosemarie heads the Irish Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC), which aims to effectively deliver operational flood forecasting products and flood risk information to its stakeholders. The Irish FFC uses river, rainfall, tidal and storm surge data to provide flood risk information to local authorities and emergency responders, helping communities prepare more effectively for extreme events. There are plans to improve model performance and operational forecasting, including installing more river gauges within Irish catchments.

Finally, Sarah Mannion, a source protection officer with the National Federation of Group Water Schemes (NFGWS), brought a local perspective. She showed how improving water resilience also depends on protecting drinking water sources at the catchment level through both practical mitigation measures and public engagement. Sarah referred to the NFGWS’s Handbook of Source Protection and Mitigation Actions for Farming, a guide to reducing the loss of nutrients, sediment, pesticides and microbial pathogens from agricultural activity into drinking water sources. These measures include pesticide sprayer servicing, fencing between agricultural land and watercourses to act as a buffer, and reviewing or upgrading septic tanks in vulnerable areas of the catchment. All of these actions require individuals and communities to engage with the NFGWS, illustrating the importance of communicating with the general public.

Sarah also highlighted the importance of softer measures that help communities understand their role in protecting water quality. These include school visits where the water cycle is explained to children, signage around waterbodies connected to the group water schemes, and biodiversity campaigns such as I’ve Planted a Tree and My Garden is Pesticide Free and Let it Bee. These examples show that water resilience depends not only on infrastructure upgrades and improving forecasting abilities, but also how local stewardship and community awareness can contribute.

Takeaways

As John Curtin highlighted, local action is becoming an increasingly important driver of change. As many of the speakers discussed, while there are challenges, there is meaningful work underway to recognise and respond to them. From the need for better communication skills within the industry, to tackling workforce capacity, delivering practical action through infrastructure planning, forecasting and local action, the event demonstrated the breadth of work needed to improve water resilience.

What stood out to me most was that progress will depend not only on long-term investment and technical expertise, but also on collaboration, communication and sustained local action. I’m excited to see how this work develops and how I might contribute to its future.

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Learn more about capacity and capability in the water sector in CIWEM’s Your Future Report, and about the Republic of Ireland branch via its LinkedIn page.

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Micheal O’Flatharta is a senior project hydrologist at IE Consulting and a member of the CIWEM Republic of Ireland Branch