NI water quality could miss standards target, says Audit Office report

Blue-green algae has been present in the waters around Northern Ireland in recent months

A quarter of water pollution incidents in 2022 were linked to agriculture and one in eight to the operations of Northern Ireland Water, according to a new report.

The NI Audit Office report found that water quality in rivers and lakes has not improved since 2015.

It also said that a 2027 EU target for standards will be missed.

The auditor general said funding deficits were "likely to have impacted" water quality, with more work required.

Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir said investment in a number of areas and proper enforcement was key to turning the situation around.

"Farmers are part of the solution here but where there's offences being committed, these need to be investigated and enforcement action needs to be taken," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

"We can't have the situation continue to unfold where our environment is being polluted."

Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir describes the report as "very concerning"

Dorinnia Carville's report also indicated that measures to tackle agricultural practices partly responsible for water quality issues "have not been effective".

The report examined how the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has planned and managed its resources to address issues and meet regulatory requirements.

Four recommendations were made, including development and publication of an overarching water quality improvement strategy by Daera.

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Among the water quality issues identified, the report outlined that:

• Despite initiatives to improve water quality, fewer than a third of rivers had good ecological status in 2021, with no improvement since 2015

• Just 14% of Northern Ireland's lakes had good ecological status in 2021, down from 24% in 2015

• In the same timeframe, more than twice as many rivers and lakes in the Republic of Ireland achieved good or better ecological status

It went to to note that the continuing issues were "partly attributable" to agricultural practices which led to excess nutrient or fertiliser accumulating in rivers and lakes.

Between 2017 and 2021, 373 pollution incidents linked to farming and 68 linked to NI Water were deemed to be of high or medium severity.

Agriculture accounts for 77% of the total land area of Northern Ireland and about 1% of farms are inspected by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) annually.

More than half (53%) of all water pollution incidents linked to agriculture in 2022 happened in the Neagh Bann River Basin District - this area covers all of County Armagh, large parties of counties Antrim, Londonderry, Down and Tyrone and a small area of County Fermanagh,

Most of those incidents were in the River Blackwater area, with farm effluent mixture, silage and cattle waste most frequently detected.

"These outcomes provide cause for concern," the report added.

The River Blackwater feeds into Lough Neagh, where blue-green algal blooms were found last year

The Blackwater is one of six major rivers that feed into Lough Neagh, where blue-green algal blooms last year could be seen from space.

There were 572 pollution incidents linked to the operations of NI Water between 2017 and 2021, down 43% on 2014.

Of these, almost half (46%) happened in the North Eastern River Basin District, which covers large parts of counties Antrim and Down and a small portion of County Londonderry.

Enhanced monitoring requirements mean that no river or lake in Northern Ireland now has good chemical status.

And when combined with ecological assessment, none have good overall status either.

More investment needed

Ms Carville said steps must be taken to achieve the required regulatory standards.

"Better and sustained engagement with stakeholders including the agriculture sector is needed and consideration should be given to enhancing the effectiveness of regulatory and inspection work," she said.

"Better use of data will also help, both in helping target testing at areas most at-risk and to help benchmark Northern Ireland with regions experiencing better outcomes in regards to water quality."

Mr Muir said his department was keen to take a "three-pronged" approach to help tackle the problems, including education and incentives to ensure people are aware of the implications of their behaviour.

He added Northern Ireland's waste water infrastructure needs to be invested in, as well as more invest "significant more resources" to tackle offenders.

"This report isn't easy reading, it is a very concerning report," Mr Muir added.

"But what we need to do is to show leadership to turn the situation around and I'm not going to be someone found wanting in that regard."