Bathing waters in Northern Ireland

One of our responsibilities is to ensure our coastal waters are of high enough quality for the general public to bathe in. Water Quality Inspectors collect the water samples on behalf of the NIEA. The samples are then analysed by the Water Management Unit based in Lisburn.

The 2009 bathing season in Northern Ireland started on June 1st, 2009. The season runs from June through to mid-September during which water quality is assessed on 20 different occasions.Bathing Water Quality is updated weekly during the bathing season and displayed in the format of colour-coded posters. The 2009 Bathing Water Quality posters can be viewed below:

2009 Northern Ireland (North Coast) Bathing Water Quality Poster (.PDF 57Kb)

2009 Northern Ireland (Antrim Coast) Bathing Water Quality Poster (.PDF 54Kb)

2009 Northern Ireland (North Down) Bathing Water Quality Poster (.PDF 58Kb)

2009 Northern Ireland (South Down) Bathing Water Quality Poster (.PDF 57Kb)

Ministerial Announcement of 2009 EC Bathing Water Directive Compliance Announcement for Northern Ireland.

“Bathing water quality maintained despite another wet summer”

Environment Minister Edwin Poots today (3rd November 2009) welcomed the results from the annual monitoring programme of local bathing water quality.

In Northern Ireland 24 sites are formally identified under the 1976 EC Bathing Waters Directive and the monitoring programme has been in place since 1988. The waters are sampled on 20 occasions during the summer months by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) for bacterial contamination and other indicators of pollution.

The Minister said: “I am encouraged that despite another wet summer, only two bathing waters failed to achieve the mandatory requirements for the EC’s Bathing Water Directive.

"I am also encouraged that 11 of our 24 bathing waters met the guideline standards - an improvement on last year. This more stringent standard is a prerequisite for the coveted Blue Flag Award scheme."

The Minister highlighted that continued wet summers will bring new challenges in the management of local bathing waters. He said: “Unusually heavy rainfall events continue to cause unexpected summertime flooding and this is making continued improvements in bathing water quality very difficult.

“However, NI Water is investing millions in sewerage system upgrades. Farmers are spending millions on improved slurry storage and handling systems. My Department will continue to press for the high standards of operation and maintenance so that we can all benefit from this huge investment. We have a wonderful coastline and great bathing waters which deserve high levels of protection.”

All but two of Northern Ireland’s 24 identified bathing waters passed the EC’s Bathing Water Directive.

Portrush Curran (East) Strand and Portballintrae (Salmon Rock) failed to meet the Directive’s requirements. The failure at Portrush East has been attributed to a serious pollution incident and NIEA is pursuing enforcement action with a view to prosecution.

The failure at Portballintrae is believed to be linked to inadequacies in the local sewer network. Improvements to the sewerage system to enable the transfer of wastewater to Bushmills Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) are scheduled for completion during 2010 and improvements to the WWTW in Bushmills are scheduled to be completed during 2011.

2009 EC Bathing Water Directive Compliance Announcement for Northern Ireland

A summary of the 2009 EC Bathing Water Directive compliance is provided in the table below. The data supporting this assessment will be available in due course.

Any further enquiries should be directed to WaterInfo@doeni.gov.uk.

For media enquiries please contact DOE Press Office (028) 9054 0003.

Summary

22 out of 24 (91.7% compliance) of Northern Ireland's identified bathing waters achieved the mandatory water quality standards of the EC Bathing Water Directive i.e. pass, (good water quality).

11 out of 24 (45.8% compliance) achieved the tighter guideline requirements of the Directive i.e. pass, (excellent water quality).

The 2 bathing waters which failed the water quality requirements of the Directive i.e. fail (poor water quality), are Portrush (Curran) East Strand and Portballintrae (Salmon Rock).

Table of N.I. Bathing Water Directive Compliance