Water Incident Reporting
A step-by-step guide for club admins and members to set up and use the incident reporting system on Angling Ireland.
What is Water Incident Reporting?
Water Incident Reporting is a tool built for angling clubs that want to look after their local waters. If something goes wrong on a river, lake, or stretch of coastline — whether it's pollution, a fish kill, poaching, or storm damage — any Angling Ireland member can report it straight from their phone.
The report goes directly to the right club based on where the person is standing. The club's bailiffs, water keepers, or committee members get an instant alert and can respond, track, and resolve the issue — all through the platform.
In short: it gives your club a simple, organised way to receive reports from the public, coordinate your response, and keep a record of everything. No more relying on phone calls, word of mouth, or messages getting lost.
This guide walks you through everything, step by step.
Incident Types Covered
In This Guide
Part 1: For Club Admins
Setting up incident reporting for your club
Subscribe to Incident Reporting
Water Incident Reporting is a paid add-on for clubs. A subscription is required to activate the reporting system for your club.
From your club admin panel, navigate to Incident Reporting in the sidebar. You'll see the subscription page where you can choose a plan that suits your club. Both monthly and annual options are available.
Once you've subscribed, you'll be taken directly to the water setup page to start drawing your club's water boundaries.
Tip: You can manage your subscription, update payment details, or cancel anytime from the Billing page in your reporting section.
Draw Your Water Boundaries
This is the most important step. You need to define the waterways your club manages so that incident reports can be automatically matched to your club based on GPS location.
How to draw a boundary:
- Click "Add Water" and give your water a name (e.g., "River Liffey — Club Section")
- Choose the boundary type:
- Polygon — for lakes, ponds, or enclosed areas. Click points around the perimeter to draw the shape.
- Polyline — for rivers and streams. Click along the centre of the waterway. A 500m buffer is automatically applied either side for matching.
- Close the shape (polygon) or finish drawing (polyline) by clicking the last point
- Click "Save" to store the boundary
Tip: You can add multiple waters for your club — for example, a lake and two river stretches. Each one can be drawn and named separately.
Create Sections Optional
If your water is large, you can divide it into named sections. This helps responders identify exactly which part of the water an incident occurred on.
For example, a river might be split into "Upper Beat", "Middle Section", and "Lower Stretch".
Sections are optional — if you skip this step, reports will simply be matched to the water as a whole.
Add Responders
Responders are the club members who will be notified when an incident is reported on your waters. These are typically bailiffs, water keepers, or committee members.
For each responder you can set:
- Role title — e.g., "Head Bailiff", "Water Keeper", "Committee Member"
- Notification method — push notification, email, or both
- Area assignment — assign to the whole water or specific sections
- Active/inactive — temporarily disable a responder without removing them
Tip: Responders must be existing members of your club on Angling Ireland. Make sure they've joined your club first before adding them as responders.
Set Notification Preferences
When a new incident is reported on your waters, responders are notified through up to three channels:
Each responder can have different notification preferences. For example, your head bailiff might want both push and email, while a committee member might only need email.
Your Reports Dashboard
Once your waters are set up and reports start coming in, the Reports Dashboard gives you a complete overview of all incidents on your club's waters.
The dashboard shows:
- Stats cards — total reports, open, in progress, resolved, escalated
- Incident map — all reports plotted on a map with colour-coded pins by type
- Report list — filterable by status, type, severity, and date
Responding to an Incident
When you click into an incident report, you'll see the full details and a timeline of all activity. From here you can manage the response:
Response workflow:
- "I'm on it" — Claim the report so other responders know someone is handling it
- Add notes — Record observations, actions taken, or updates
- Add photos — Upload follow-up evidence photos
- Update status — Move through the workflow as you respond
- Resolve — Mark as resolved with resolution notes explaining the outcome
- Escalate — Forward to external authorities if needed:
Inland Fisheries
Environmental Protection
An Garda Síochána
Local Authority
The reporter is automatically notified whenever the status of their report changes, keeping them informed throughout the process.
Part 2: For Members
How to submit an incident report
Finding the Report Page
You can access the incident report form in two ways:
- Click "Report Incident" in the main navigation menu (sidebar on desktop, bottom of menu on mobile)
- Go directly to anglingireland.ie/public/report_incident.php
You must be logged in to submit a report. If you're not logged in, you'll see an informational page about the reporting system with a prompt to log in or create an account.
Allow Location Access
When the report form loads, your browser will ask permission to use your location. This is important — accurate GPS coordinates ensure the report is matched to the correct club and water.
Auto-Detection
Click "Allow" when prompted. Your GPS position will be plotted on the map automatically — perfect if you're reporting from the scene.
Manual Pin Drop
If GPS isn't available or you're reporting later, click anywhere on the map to place the pin at the incident location.
Fill In the Report
With your location set, fill in the details of the incident:
Incident Type
Select the type that best describes what you've observed. Choose from 10 categories including pollution, fish kill, poaching, invasive species, and more.
Severity Level
Rate how serious the incident is:
Description
Describe what you've seen in as much detail as possible — what, where, when, and how big. You can type your description or use the voice-to-text button to dictate it hands-free (works on Chrome, Edge, and Safari).
Add Photos
Photos are incredibly valuable for responders. You can upload up to 5 photos with each report.
Tip: Try to capture the extent of the issue, any identifying features, and the surrounding area. Multiple angles are helpful for responders assessing the situation.
Anonymous or Identified
Before submitting, you can choose whether your identity is shared with the club's responders:
Identified
Your name is visible to the club's responders. They can follow up with you if needed for more details.
Anonymous
Your identity is hidden from responders. Useful for sensitive reports like poaching or antisocial behaviour.
Either way, you can always see your own report and track its progress in "My Reports".
Submit & Track Your Report
Click "Submit Report" and you're done. You'll immediately see:
- A confirmation message with a green banner
- Your unique reference number (e.g.,
IR-2026-00042) — save this for your records
Tracking your report
Go to "My Reports" in the navigation to see all your submitted reports. Each report shows:
- Reference number and incident type
- Current status badge
- Date submitted
- Photo thumbnail
Click into any report to see the full activity timeline — every status change, note, and update from responders appears here.
You'll receive a notification (in-app and push) whenever the status of your report changes — so you'll know when someone has claimed it, when it's being worked on, and when it's resolved.
Ready to get started?
Protect Ireland's waterways by setting up reporting for your club or submitting your first incident report.