Bathing water results show improvement but further work to be done

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) today released encouraging results on Northern Ireland’s bathing water quality.

All but one of Northern Ireland’s 24 identified bathing waters achieved the mandatory standards of the European Commission’s Bathing Water Directive.

Ballyholme was the only area which failed to meet the Directive’s requirements. However NIEA believe this was as a result of inadequacies in the local sewer network. Northern Ireland Water is addressing this with a scheduled upgrade of the local sewerage system later this year and which is due to be completed in early 2010.

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson was pleased that in spite of the wet summer, the vast majority of bathing waters met European Union standards.

The Minister said: “I am encouraged that despite another wet summer, only one bathing water failed to achieve the mandatory requirements for the Bathing Water Directive.

“Heavy and sustained rainfall affects bathing water quality as it increases overflows from sewer networks and run off from agricultural land. Heavy rain can also draw attention to deficiencies in our sewerage infrastructure and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) continues to press Northern Ireland Water to give a high priority to these issues.

“NIEA is working closely with all industrial sectors, especially the agriculture industry, to control all polluting discharges and minimise run off.”

Notes to Editors

1. In Northern Ireland 24 sites are formally identified under the 1976 EC Bathing Waters Directive and a monitoring programme has been in place since 1988. The Directive aims to afford a certain level of health protection to bathers in waters where bathing is traditionally practised by a large number of people.
2. 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. Results are circulated weekly to the coastal councils and published both locally and on the NIEA website
3. The following bathing waters are monitored: Magilligan (Benone), Magilligan (Downhill), Castlerock, Portstewart Portrush (Mill), Portrush (Curran), Portrush (Whiterocks), Portballintrae (Salmon Rock), Ballycastle, Waterfoot, Carnlough, Ballygalley, Brown’s Bay, Helen’s Bay, Crawfordsburn, Ballyholme, Groomsport, Millisle, Ballywalter, Tyrella, Murlough Co. Down, Newcastle, Cranfield (Nicholson’s Strand) and Cranfield Bay.
4. The overall 2008 results can be viewed on the website.
5. NIEA is presently preparing for full implementation of the 2006 revised EC Bathing Waters Directive. Regulations were made in June 2008 and the first classification in accordance with the revised Directive must be carried out by 2015.
6. The revised Directive lays down provisions for the monitoring and classification, the management of sites and the provision of information to the public on bathing water quality and factors affecting it. The main differences between the old and revised Directive are the new bacteriological standards and indicator species and the information provision requirements.
7. Classification will be based on a four year cycle. Compliance will be assessed and reported using the existing Directive 76/160/EEC until 2014 but will run in parallel with the revised Directive from 2012.
8. For media enquiries please contact DOE Press Office 028 9054 0014 or out of office hours, contact the EIS Duty Press Officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.