Lough Neagh algae warning issued as slurry from thousands of farms enters water

Shauna Corr
·4-min read

Slurry pouring into Lough Neagh from thousands of farms will continue to spark pollution incidents unless major action taken, it is warned.

Lough Neagh Partnership's manager says the first thing that needs to be addressed to save the major waterway is 'nutrient overload' from farm slurry. We recently met Gerry Darby at the lough shore in Ballyronan, where algae was visible in the water and in some places had already begun to form patches of sludge.

While it has not yet reached the catastrophic levels we reported on last summer, it has now been confirmed in nine parts of Lough Neagh as well as a canal and river that feed into it with signs going up warning people to stay out of the water as the algae is toxic to pets and can make people sick.

Read more: Executive decision holding up environmental plan that could help Lough Neagh

Read more: Activists take fight to 'save' Lough Neagh to Lord Shaftesbury's Dorset estate

Mr Darby said: "The problems and the causes of it are pretty clear. We know that it's nutrient overload, in particular soluble phosphate and we know the sources of that are 60% from the faming sector and that's not around the lough. It's in the whole catchment around the lough which is about 45% of Northern Ireland."

Around 13,000 farmers operate in that area - which is about half of all those farming in Northern Ireland.

He added: "That's the first big issue that has to be addressed. What do you do with that oversupply of slurry and nutrient overload. Again, that's the big issue that needs to be addressed.

"You can take that from two ways - the supply of it and the demand of it. The numbers of cattle in the first place and the supply of slurry and the amount of slurry going down [on the ground]. That's a big issue."

Gerry says investment in sewage infrastructure and septic tanks also need to be addressed. NI Water needs £1.9 billion to upgrade its infrastructure to help stop sewage spills.

It estimates that around 18 million tonnes of untreated waste water spilled into our rivers, lakes and seas last year in 24,521 separate incidents. But they have a £900 million shortfall in terms of what they need to tackle the problem and with budget cuts, don't look likely to get that funding anytime soon.

There are also appear to gaps in terms of septic tank oversight. According to DAERA, around 145,000 homes discharge into our aquatic environment - including through septic tanks. They told us there are also 6,000 industrial and private sewage discharges and 2377 discharges from wastewater treatment plants.

SEPTIC TANKS NOT ROUTINELY INSPECTED

NIEA, which sits under DAERA, regulate these discharges under the Water Order 1999. We asked if household septic tanks are inspected to see if there are any problems with them and if grants were available for upgrading problem tanks.

A spokesperson told us they take "a risk based approach to regulation of discharges to the aquatic environment" is applied and they carry out proactive sampling of "trade and private sewage infrastructure discharging over 5 cubic metres per day".

But when it comes to single dwelling discharges, they are not proactive and don't appear to inspect septic tanks. They said: "If an issue arises and is reported to NIEA, it is investigated if there is a risk to the aquatic environment.

"There is no grant aid in place for operators of single dwelling onsite treatment plants or septic tanks."

Mr Darby set out his ideas on potential solutions to the issues facing Lough Neagh and other waterways as we wait for Stormont to deliver a plan to tackle the issue.

He added: "Other alternative solutions are looking at aerobic digestion, which really we should have been looking at 20 years ago in terms of trying to fix that... supply [of slurry].

"We also know there's issue with climate change and the lough being more clear - the effect of the zebra mussels. They are probably things we don't have that much control over.

"The other big issue is policing as well... of the rivers systems and policing of pollution and nutrient overload incidents - putting slurry out at the wrong time. We've just seen a massive fish kill again and it's almost to the point whereby, it happens and it happens... and you don't want that to be the norm but it has become the norm now.

"You don't want to live in a society where it's normal for river systems to be regularly and constantly undergoing massive pollution incidents. It's just not the world we or our kids want to live in.

"The environment and the loss of the environment needs to be given greater priority and you can do that through a rights system or through an incentivised system of giving grants to farmers but without a doubt we're out of kilt[er] and it can't go on forever."

Video: Harry Bateman

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our What's On newsletter

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • I'm so sorry for costing Herefordshire £130,000!

    THROUGH your newspaper I would like to apologise to the council tax payers of Herefordshire for costing them more than £130,000.

  • Hunter mistakenly kills grizzly bear, but it wasn’t hunter’s mistake

    After an investigation that left the Idaho Fish and Game in an embarrassing position, the hunter was not issued a citation.

  • Miliband vows to scrap 2035 Tory ban on new gas boilers

    Labour will scrap the Tory party’s 2035 target to ban new gas boilers, Ed Miliband has pledged.

  • Woman mauled by wolves while jogging in French safari park

    A woman suffered serious injuries after she was attacked by three wolves while jogging at a luxury zoo lodge in France.

  • ‘It was a nightmare. It still is’: the cost of doing business, eight years after Brexit

    The vote to leave the EU was sold as a way to cut red tape, but for many it ended up doing the opposite. The Observer asked six businesses about the fallout for them

  • Sea World Team Carries Out 'Challenging' Two-Day Rescue to Free Tangled Humpback Whale

    Marine rescue groups in New South Wales successfully disentangled a humpback whale from a thick rope and towing bouys on Friday, June 21.Footage released by the Sea World Foundation shows the two-day rescue.The whale was first sighted near Batemans Bay on June 13, Sea World said.Rescue groups waited until Thursday, when another sighting was reported off Sandon Beach.Tracking the whale to Yamba, the team managed to find it five miles east of Angourie, but limited light meant the rescue would have to wait until the night day.In a challenging rescue operation lasting three hours, the team managed to remove the rope and buoys from the animal before seeing it off on its northern migration with a companion.“As soon as that last bit of gear come off the whale, it took off swimming freely at 6 knots and it was incredible to see that reaction, and know our work out on the water saved it from a perilous death," Sea World Skipper Andy Mulville said. Credit: Sea World Foundation via Storyful

  • Herefordshire woodland with natural spring goes up for sale

    WOODLAND with its own natural spring water supply is up for sale in Herefordshire.

  • Woman in intensive care after being attacked by wolves while jogging at safari park near Paris

    The woman was reportedly staying at Thoiry zoo with her mother and baby

  • Carbon emissions from vans still rising as UK drivers cling to diesel

    Costly new vehicles, limited choice and scarce charging points are holding back a switch to electric by businesses

  • Revealed: the world-first plan to turn worn-out British tyres into jet fuel

    In its faltering battle to cut carbon emissions, the aviation industry has stumbled on a novel solution – jet fuel made from thousands of worn-out British car tyres.

  • Green hydrogen: is this Australia's breakout moment amid US$127 billion boom down under?

    On a site three times the size of Hong Kong, a US$10 billion project mooted in Australia has raised hopes of tackling greenhouse gas emissions with green hydrogen. Located 400km north of Alice Springs in central Australia, phase one of the proposed Green Springs project, targeted for completion by 2030, will feature 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels, enough to meet the requirements of more than 3 million households. If the project, spread over 200 square kilometres, gets the go ahead and is succ

  • European cities give their dead leaves to this startup to turn them into shopping bags and paper

    The paper industry buys more than 30% of all the industrial wood sold worldwide.

  • 'They were ugly but they were ours'

    They were once iconic landmarks. Now they no longer dominate east Manchester's skyline

  • This popular island was ravaged by fires – here’s what it’s really like to go back

    The ‘Black Summer’ blazes scorched more than half of this wildlife-rich, rugged Australian outpost, but James Litston finds a place where the green shoots of recovery are blooming

  • Ed Miliband: ‘Britain’s heat pump take-up is absolutely miserable’

    Ed Miliband has committed to scrapping a ban on building new onshore wind farms if Labour claims victory at the general election.

  • Swindon pensioner fears neighbour's trees will crush house with her in it

    A woman feared that tall trees in her neighbour's garden could crush her house with her in it.

  • Thousands march in London to call for 'urgent' climate action

    Thousands of protestors from across the UK marched through central London on Saturday to call for "urgent political action" on nature.The 'Restore Nature Now' march was joined by some 350 charities ranging from protest groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion to more mainstream organisations like the National Trust and WWF.People came from "all over the UK", according to one protestor, with a list of demands including making "polluters pay" and improving support for farmers in an increased "climate-friendly farming budget".The march also called for an Environmental Rights Bill to establish the right to a healthy environment in the next parliament following a general election next month.Protesters weaved down one side of Hyde park in the British capital, marching past Downing street to Parliament square dressed in wildlife-themed costumes and donning quirky headgear and masks.Accompanied by songs, chants of "restore nature now" and more than one drum circle, protestors called for climate change and nature to be prioritised in the election campaign and by the next government.British actor Emma Thompson led the march, saying that her message was for the government to "stop being so deeply, deeply irresponsible".Thompson told AFP at the march that she couldn't believe the "lack of engagement" of political parties during the ongoing election campaign."We’re in the eye of the storm... Everyone cares about the beauty of our islands and we are losing it so fast", she added.She was joined at the front of the procession by wildlife TV presenter and activist Chris Packham, who criticised politicians for "not taking the action that they need to rapidly enough and broadly enough", adding that he was "not terribly impressed" with parties' election manifestos."So we have to stand up and make sure that they understand that we're going to hold them to account", he told AFP.- 'Not enough' -One protestor wanted to see water companies nationalised by the next government. Carrying cut-outs of fish, Frances Dismore from a river restoration group said, "all these cardboard critters that we're carrying today, we've met in person on our river, so we're very much concerned about safeguarding them".Dismore added that the river that she was campaigning for, the River Lea in north-east London and east England, was "impacted by all the issues that all other rivers in England are impacted by."River and water cleanliness has been a hot topic this election, with several sewage spill scandals over the last few years drawing the ire of climate activists.Earlier on the campaign trail, leader of the smaller Liberal Democrats party fell off a paddleboard into a lake to demonstrate the severity of England's sewage crisis.The opposition Labour party, which looks poised to win power this election, has pledged to end new oil and gas exploration licences in the North Sea and create a publicly owned clean energy company called Great British Energy.However, Labour leader Keir Starmer was previously criticised for ditching a pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green infrastructure.The Conservatives' have watered down committments on how they would reach the UK's 2050 net-zero target through pushing back a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2050.For Jane Price, who came down with Extinction Rebellion from Stratford-upon-Avon, the timing of the march was a way to tell political parties "we will vote for you if the climate and the ecology is on your agenda.""Everywhere you look", she added "there's not enough being done".aks/cw

  • Wolf attack at French zoo leaves woman seriously injured

    Police and prosecutors were investigating how a 37-year-old woman came to be attacked and seriously injured by three wolves in a zoo outside Paris Sunday.That's where she was attacked by three wolves," Caillibotte said.

  • Large moose charges past anglers in awesome display of power

    For one charter group in Alaska this week, fishing took a back seat to moose watching as the towering mammal seemed 'on a mission' to get past the boat.

  • This Queensland farmer lost half his sheep in a bloody attack – but was it wild dogs or rogue pets?

    Tree-change communities with smaller lifestyle blocks are causing a ‘breakdown’ of wild dog management programs – and debate still rages over role of dingoes