The Executive Scientist will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team within Leitrim County Council. They may be responsible for delivering regulatory, enforcement, and awareness activities in environmental protection including aspects in Water Quality, Air Quality, Noise Action, Climate Action, Biodiversity, and other areas of the environment. The role requires comprehensive knowledge and understanding of current environmental legislation and how it relates to Local Authority functions.
In Ireland, surface waters and groundwaters continue to be under pressure from human activities, particularly from nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture and urban wastewater discharges, and from discharges from septic tanks/domestic wastewater treatment systems. Under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) Ireland is required to manage waters on a river basin scale via River Basin Management Planning (RBMP), to protect rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. The success of RBMP depends, to a great extent, on the capacity of public bodies including local authorities to develop effective plans, coordinate activities and share data, especially among staff engaged in day-to-day operational decision making. Under the National enforcement priorities local authorities are working on a number of water quality priority areas including discharge licencing, water quality monitoring, domestic wastewater treatment systems/septic tanks. Agricultural pressures from slurry/soiled water collection and storage and slurry and fertiliser spreading are also water quality priority areas that local authorities, including Leitrim County Council, are seeking to address. From an agricultural point of view, Local Authorities have responsibility under the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters) Regulations for the monitoring of waters to determine the extent and trends of pollution arising from agriculture and to carry out inspections of farm holdings for the purposes of the regulations.
Recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports show water quality is declining in Ireland and that at current levels of progress, Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to good or better status by 2027. Agriculture is a significant contributor to this declining water quality.
Local Authorities in collaboration with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are putting in place an enhanced inspection programme of farm holdings to protect, reverse trends and improve water quality in Ireland.
Reporting to the Senior Executive Engineer, or such other officer as may be designated, the Executive Scientist will be required to lead and manage Leitrim County Council’s Water Quality Team in striving to deliver on the national water quality priority areas, particularly with respect to pressures from agriculture.
Leitrim County Council
Aras an Chontae
Carrick on Shannon
Co Leitrim
N41PF67