Northern Ireland

Bathing waters across north meet minimum standards for quality, with 22 rated excellent

The water at one location did not reach minimum standard, the inland beach at Rae’s Wood on Lough Neagh

Ballyholme in Bangor failed to meet the minimum standards for the second year in a row
Water quality at Ballyholme in Bangor reached sufficient standard after two years after failing to meet minimum
By John Breslin

Bathing waters at beaches across the north have all met the required standard of quality, with most deemed excellent, according to a new report.

Inspectors tested the waters at 26 ‘identified’ locations to check how much faecal matter was present.

A total of 22 were classified as excellent quality, two were rated good while a further two were found to be sufficient, the report by the Department of Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Environment (DAERA) found.

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The bathing water at a further seven ‘candidate’ sites was also tested, with one classified as excellent, two as good, three sufficient and one failing to meet the minimum standards.

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Rae’s Wood in Co Antrim, on Lough Neagh, did not meet the minimum standard. It is the first inland bathing water to be included on the ‘candidate’ list.

Blue-green algae on the shores of Lough Neagh
Blue-green algae on the shores of Lough Neagh (Niall Carson/PA)

“Unfortunately, as with 2023, this season was also dominated by coverage of the blue-green algae events in Lough Neagh, impacting the candidate site at Rea’s Wood in Antrim,” said DAERA Minister Andrew Muir said.

“I am committed to tackling the issues and have published an Action Plan to clean up Lough Neagh.”

Mr Muir added: “Even with the wet summer and poor weather it is very encouraging to see so many of Northern Ireland’s bathing waters maintaining high standards for water quality.

“The addition of another year’s data has improved the classifications at some of the candidate sites. However, a full set of four years is required to classify these with confidence.”

Muir
Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN

The minister noted the waters at Ballyholme beach in Bangor, which failed to reach the minimum quality in the last two years, was rated sufficient this year.

“I am delighted to see that Ballyholme met the standards in 2024. My Department has been working collaboratively with NI Water and the Agrifood and Biosciences Institute to get to the bottom of the problem at Ballyholme beach and in the catchment,” Mr Muir said.

“It is still early days in understanding if the issues have been fully resolved, as the investigative study is still continuing.”