Lough Neagh algal pollution sparks controversy over ownership

Northern Ireland Water has insisted that water supplied from Lough Neagh, the UK’s largest freshwater lake and the source of 50% of Belfast’s drinking water supply and 40% of the region’s water supply, is safe to drink. The lake is around 380 km² and holds more than 4,000Gl of water.

Last summer, potentially harmful blue-green algae appeared on Lough Neagh at a level not seen since the 1970s. Algal blooms can produce toxins and remove oxygen from the water as they decompose.

Northern Ireland Water said it expected the algae “plague” would return later this year but reassured consumers that after treatment, the water would be safe to drink albeit there were likely to be ongoing issues over smell and taste.

These algal problems have reignited controversy over who owns and manages the Lough and whether some form of public or community ownership is urgently needed. The water in Lough Neagh is not “owned”. In law, water can be owned only in small quantities and for specific purposes such for agricultural use.

However the “bed and soil” of Lough Neagh (the land over which the water passes) and the hunting/fishing rights are owned by a company that is part of the Dorset-based Shaftesbury Estate, which the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, inherited in 2005.

For years, the management of the Lough has been problematic and controversial because of the environmental damage caused by poorly regulated sand extraction, the deterioration of the lake's hinterland habitats such as peatlands, the decline in fish populations, the dramatic loss in breeding waders and now serious water pollution exacerbated by climate change.