Delays to planned improvements to Northern Ireland’s water quality have created a “very worrying picture”, according to a scathing assessment from an environmental watchdog.
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) said the crisis at Lough Neagh – the source of 40 per cent of the North’s drinking water which has been contaminated by recurring poisonous blue-green algae – “vividly illustrates” the serious consequences of inadequate monitoring.
In its first report to the Stormont Assembly, the body notes that seven in 10 Northern Irish rivers, lakes and other surface waters are not in good condition “or on a clear trajectory towards it”.
“There has been little change in recent years, despite measures designed to improve matters,” it states.
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In its assessment of the devolved government’s aims to tackle the problem, the OEP said the Stormont Executive’s working target to bring 70 per cent of water bodies to a “good status” was missed and that a 2027 target set by the Department of Environment is likely to be missed “by a considerable margin”.
The post-Brexit watchdog, which monitors how environmental laws are working, reviewed the key legislation regarding water quality in the North – the Water Framework Directive Northern Ireland Regulations – and how they are being implemented by the department and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency through river basin management planning.
OEP chief executive Natalie Prosser said its report found that the approach of the regulations was “broadly sound” but they were “not being implemented or delivering” as they should for Northern Ireland’s lakes, rivers and coastal waters.
The report said the failure to meet the 2027 target will have a detrimental knock-on effect on the Executive’s other environmental aims, which include “excellent water quality” and “thriving, resilient and connected nature and wildlife”.
In response, Stormont Environment Minister Andrew Muir said there is the “potential” that Stormont has breached the law in failing to improve water quality and he is looking at how to “rectify” that. In July, Mr Muir secured Executive approval for a 37-point action plan for Lough Neagh.
The report’s release coincides with an environmental activist seeking a potential judicial review against the department over its failure to publish an environmental improvement plan, which was due for release last summer, and failing to take “meaningful enforcement action” against those polluting Lough Neagh.
Solicitors representing Leo Brooks have sent two pre-action letters to the department. A statement issued by the legal firm Harte Coyle Collins Solicitors said the plan is “fundamental to tackling the ongoing ecological crisis at Lough Neagh as was recognised” by Mr Muir in March of this year.
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