Lough Neagh: What does future hold for UK's largest freshwater lake?

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IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA

Image caption,
Blue-green algae is toxic to animals and can cause illness in humans (file image)
By Louise Cullen
BBC NI agriculture and environment correspondent
After a summer of blue-green algae, bathing bans, and pondweed and silt
causing problems for boats, Belfast City Council has officially added its voice
to calls for Lough Neagh to be brought into public ownership.
But who owns it now and who is responsible for its operation and management?
The simple answer is... it's complicated.
Why Lough Neagh matters
The largest freshwater lake in the UK supplies half of Belfast's drinking water and
40% of Northern Ireland's overall.
It is also home to the largest commercial wild eel fishery in Europe.
And sand-dredging, though controversial, has been a business on the lough for over
a century.
The lough and its catchment area is also a vast ecosystem, where species such as
the curlew and the barn owl could be found in years gone by.
It has numerous environmental designations - special protection areas, special areas
of conservation, areas of special scientific interest and Ramsar status.
IMAGE SOURCE,MARK GEDDIS
Image caption,
Lough Neagh is home to significant native species such as eel, trout and pollan
And the peatlands that surround it are a potentially huge carbon sink, helping to fight
climate change.
What's gone wrong?
The blue-green algal bloom over the summer has caused havoc, not just in Lough
Neagh but right up to Northern Ireland's north coast.
Water from Lough Neagh flows down the Upper Bann and into the Atlantic Ocean at
the Barmouth between Portstewart and Castlerock in County Londonderry.
That brought the algae to the coast, where it could not survive but caused a bathing
ban on several beaches at the height of summer.
There were also bathing bans in areas around the lough.
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Some traders blamed the effect of those bans for putting them out of business.
Anglers have been advised to "catch and release" fish that have been within Lough
Neagh because of the risk the algae poses.
The bloom was the result of settled weather, invasive species and water pollution
mostly due to agriculture.
Excess fertiliser runs off from fields into the water, taking growth-stimulating nitrogen
and phosphorus into the lough.
Almost two decades ago the zebra mussel invaded the lough.
Image caption,
Ownership of and responsibility for Lough Neagh does not sit with any single
department or group
It filters water, making it clearer and allowing the sun's light to penetrate deeper into
the depths.
That, combined with the excess nutrients from fertiliser - eutrophication - caused the
algae to "bloom" or grow rapidly.
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The algae compounded the woes of rescue volunteers who were already worried
about safe access due to silt building up.
Pondweed is also a prominent invasive species in the lough.
And the lough is showing signs of the effects of climate change, with water
temperature now more than a degree higher than in 1995.
So who is responsible?
Let's start with who owns what.
The Shaftesbury estate owns the lough bed and the soil, the banks, the rights to
sand extraction and shooting licences for wildfowl.
That ownership dates back to the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th Century.
The National Trust, various councils, different charities and the Department of
Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs all own areas around the lough, including
national nature reserves.
But no single body owns the lough, its water or the water that flows in and out of it.
Because no one individual or body or government department is responsible, many
organisations and community groups have formed to try to protect and restore the
lough.
The Lough Neagh Partnership was established 20 years ago to help manage and
protect the lough.
Image caption,
Swimmers at Ballyronan on the edge of Lough Neagh were warned against entering
the water in June
It is comprised of elected representatives, landowners, fishermen, farmers and
communities.
"Save Our Shores! Protect Lough Neagh and our inland waterways" is a group on
Facebook with more than 2,500 members, including swimmers, conservationists and
environmentalists.
And the Love Our Lough group plan to hold a wake for the lough on 17 September to
call for cohesive management and protection of it.
Action is also being taken by scientists.
They are advising farmers through the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme, which aims to
enable those in the agriculture industry to apply fertiliser strategically, reducing run-
off and the resulting pollution.
Northern Ireland Water, the government-owned body that provides water and
sewerage services, is replacing its treatment facility at Ballyronan in County
Londonderry to improve how it deals with wastewater and enhance water quality in
the lough.
Can it not just be taken over by someone?
That would be very complicated given that so many bodies have interests in the
lough.
But that has not stopped different administrations considering it over the years.
Now a motion by Green Party councillor Brian Smyth, passed by Belfast City
Council, is the latest in a long line of discussions about getting the lough into public
ownership.
Image caption,
Five rivers flow into Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in the UK
It is a prospect also on the mind of Gerry Darby, the manager of the Lough Neagh
Partnership.
He said the partnership had recently received a significant grant from the Heritage
Lottery Fund, which would allow it to carry out an economic appraisal to address the
future ownership and the management of Lough Neagh.
The group signed a letter of offer last week and expects the process to take about
two years.
"It will also allow us to submit a business proposal, which would look at how much
this would cost and the risks there are if one of the local government departments or
one of the stakeholder bodies takes it over," said Mr Darby.
"We have spoken to Lord Shaftesbury and in principle he is interested in the option
of selling.
"The price is one thing but it is also about liabilities and risks in terms of negotiating
the cost."
The partnership believes the single solution is for a government department to set up
and lead a taskforce, in conjunction with stakeholders, to reverse what it described
as the "neglect" of statutory agencies over the past 20 years.
But that would require a functioning Northern Ireland Executive.