On a beautiful day in July, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes (NFGWS) showed us around parts of Co. Monaghan and took us to visit two Group Water Schemes (GWSs). We spent the day traveling to abstraction points, metering stations, boreholes, and GWSs offices that were nestled in between rolling hills, poultry houses, and grazing cows. Along the way, we tried to make sense of the complexities hidden and visible in these landscapes. Pipes, meters, treatment plants, farms, and memorials to the troubles were physical reminders of social, political, and economic processes that have unfolded in the area over the last half-century.
As we were guided through these landscapes, we learned of the area’s history with national and EU agricultural policy, the pressures they place on water quality in catchment areas, and how GWSs have responded. We heard about the social and political of the history of the region and its memories of violence during the troubles. We saw the networks of infrastructures and activities that GWSs have developed to respond to poor water quality, EU and Irish water regulation, and operational demands through monitoring and metering.
