Waters of LIFE brought something new to Ireland’s festival scene in 2025.

Festival goers at Beyond the Pale were invited to try out citizen science for themselves to look at biological indicators for water quality in the Avonmore_30 water body.

The festival sits in the heart of the Avonmore sub-catchment, one of five demonstration catchments for the Waters of LIFE project.

Catchment scientist Mark Desmond kick sampled for macroinvertebrates in a tributary of the Annamoe River on the festival site. Under the watchful eye of revellers, the samples were brought back to the project’s tent set-up in Acushla – a wellness area on the bank of the river.

Over two days, attendees had their curiosity piqued by the sight of creepy crawlies on display and the chance to take a closer look.

Citizen Science Stream Index is a beginner friendly way of looking at biological indicators of water quality.

It adopts the Small Stream Impact Score (SSIS) used by scientists and more advanced practitioners.

It was developed by Dr.Simon Harrison and others at University College Cork.

Waters of LIFE used an adapted version of the index card, as kick sampling wasn’t an option for the festival attendees themselves.

The results of the CSSI were good – broadly matching the ecological status of the Avonmore_30 assigned by the EPA. There is an objective to protect that status under the Water Framework Directive, which is not deemed to be currently at risk.

The initiative was supported by LAWPRO who had Community Water Officer David Rafter on site to chat to people about how communities can care for Water Quality.

The project’s tent was also shared with the National Parks and Wildlife Service who had some wonderful displays to promote local conservation projects.

Here’s a video of how the weekend went.