b'Cattle Exclusion from Watercourses: Environmental implications hUallachin D1, Jennings E2, Antunes P2, OSullivan M3 and Kelly-Quinn M31Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme, Teagasc, Johnstown Castle EnvironmentResearch Centre, Wexford, Co. Wexford, Ireland2Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Ireland3University College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandNutrient enrichment and excess sediment inputs, are primary water quality issues for freshwater ecosystems. Anthropogenic activities, including land use and agriculture, are amongst the main sources of pollutants to freshwater systems. Intensive grazing by livestock can impact on water quality at local and landscape scales. Fenced riparian buffer measures are amongst thecommononest mitigation measure to maintain and enhance the quality of freshwater ecosystems. However, few studies have evaluated their effectiveness, especially within Europe. The COSAINT project, Cattle access to watercourses: environmental and socio-economicimplications, was a five-year (20142019), inter-institutional project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).Results from the COSAINT project indicate that cattle access points resulted in significantincreases in fine bed sediment and the infiltration of sediment into the hyporheic zone. Increased stream sediments acted as reservoirs for faecal bacteria and phosphorus, which persisted when cattle were removed periodically from the field, but did not persist after cattle access pressures were fully removed. Increased sediment deposition was also a dominant driver of macroinvertebrate community change, although results here were more variable and sitespecific. Significant reductions in sediment sensitive taxa were encountered at pointsdownstream of cattle access points, whereas abundances of sediment tolerant groupsincreased. Results highlight that exclusion of cattle from watercourse can help improve the quality ofenvironmental indicators over the short and long term. One year of exclusion resulted inimprovements with regard to deposited stream sediment, phosphorus concentrations insediment and macroinvertebrate communities. Improvements also persisted over a longerperiod of fencing (e.g. ten years post fencing), particularly with regard to macro-invertebrate communities.Results from the COSAINT project will provide important information for policymakers in relation to the Nitrates and Water Framework Directives. It will also help guide agri-environmental policy and facilitate sustainable intensification objectives under Food Wise 2025.27'