Freshwater diatom sample processing & enumeration 2019

Tender description

The EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment undertakes biological monitoring of rivers and lakes in fulfilment of the Water Framework Directive monitoring programme (Directive 2000/60/EC) and other Directives. The EPA is seeking an experienced external contractor to process and enumerate river and lake diatom samples during 2019.The EPA is awarding a contract for the processing (i.e. preparation of diatom strews from preserved phytobenthos samples) and enumeration (i.e. identification and counting) of approximately 180 river and 64 lake samples during 2019 AND the enumeration only stage of a further approximately 100 river slides during 2019. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is directly responsible for a wide range of functions, including the regulation of large or complex activities that have significant polluting potential; for monitoring and reporting on environmental quality; and enforcing compliance with environmental protection legislation in Ireland. The Office of Evidence and Assessment (OEA) within the EPA is responsible for carrying out monitoring, assessment and reporting on the state of the environment, including water and air. This ensures that information and advice is available to underpin environmental protection and sustainable development. Under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC), the types of water bodies requiring assessment include rivers, lakes, groundwater and transitional & coastal waters. The objective of the directive is to prevent any further deterioration in status of surface waters, groundwater and water dependent ecosystems and to restore polluted waterbodies to at least ‘good status’. Under national legislation, the EPA is responsible for the preparation of a national WFD monitoring programme to assess achievement of the objectives of the directive.