In June 2018, the Investigative Assessment Working Group chaired by the EPA developed a five-volume Local Catchment Assessment (LCA) Guidance. A companion document specifically focusing on the environmental pressures that are mostly associated with urban areas, i.e. cities and towns, but may also be present in larger population centres within rural areas was developed by CDM Smith in 2019, with the input of the Urban Local Catchment Assessment Working Group.
The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) commissioned an online training programme to compliment the Urban LCA guidance. It comprises of Seven modules with video and PowerPoint presentations below. There was a Live Questions and Answers session organised for 15th December 2020 and the video is available for review below.
Health and Safety Note: Course participants are directed to their organisations Health and Safety procedures and protocols. This aspect is not included in the videos below.
Course participants that have viewed all videos and participated fully in the training programme will receive a certificate of completion.
- The objectives of the training are to increase understanding and knowledge of:
- The range of urban pressures types that can affect water quality and aquatic ecosystems.
- Examples of urban pressure types in terms of how they appear in the field.
- The importance of conducting desk studies prior to conducting catchment walks.
- Approaches to the planning and implementation of catchment walks in urban settings.
- How different pressure types can be distinguished from one another by indicator parameters, field observation and/or measurement and monitoring techniques.
- How basic calculations may be useful when assessing individual pressures within an urban footprint. Calculations make use of both existing and new data, both from public bodies and catchment walks.
- Potentially suitable mitigation options that may be considered once significant pressures are identified and verified by the LCA process.
- Possible time lags that are associated with implementing mitigation measures and strategies.
- National and international case studies demonstrating best practice.
Please Note that if the content does not appear below then go to the bottom of the windows and press the “Privacy & Cookies Policy” and press accept. Then refresh the page and the content should appear. You must be logged in for this to appear.