Northern Ireland’s bathing waters have continued to perform well in 2024 despite the rather gloomy, wet summer. All 26 identified bathing waters in Northern Ireland have met the required standards for water quality when measured against the standards for faecal indicator organisms.
22 bathing waters are classified as ‘Excellent’, a prerequisite for the coveted Blue Flag Award and the highest water quality standard, an increase from 18 in 2023. Two have met the ‘Good’ standard and two ‘Sufficient’ standard. No bathing water failed to meet the minimum standard.
In addition to sampling at identified sites, for the second year the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), who manage the bathing water programme, undertook sampling at ‘Candidate’ bathing waters that had been recommended as bathing sites by the Bathing Water Review conducted by the Department in 2022/2023. This included Northern Ireland’s first Inland Bathing Water at Rea’s Wood, Antrim. The seven ‘Candidate’ bathing waters were also measured against the standards for faecal indicator organisms; one was classified as ‘Excellent’, two as ‘Good’, three at Sufficient and one failed to meet the minimum standards.
Minister Muir said:
“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.
“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.
“I am committed to tackling the issues and have published an Action Plan to clean up Lough Neagh and have already delivered on a number of the commitments. Part of this is to ensure clearer messaging to the public about the risks and this year for the first time we implemented the Inter-Agency Monitoring Protocol for Blue Green algae that has helped inform and advise bathing water users.”
Commenting on Ballyholme bathing water, which failed to meet the minimum standards in 2022 and 2023, Minister Muir said:
“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. It is still early days in understanding if the issues have been fully resolved, as the investigative study is still continuing. However, it is encouraging to see the commitment of all working together to solve problems.
“Our bathing waters are a huge asset to Northern Ireland, valued by locals and visitors alike, and my Department will continue to work with the agriculture sector, NI Water and bathing water operators to manage risks to water quality and strive for improvements.”
The bathing water quality prediction app ‘Swim NI’ provided daily forecasts of bathing water quality at six beaches, enabling bathers to make an informed choice. The project is a collaboration between scientists at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and communications partner Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and is a continuation of work developed under the EU Interreg VA SWIM project.
The 2024 results for the 26 Identified Bathing Waters are:
Excellent Quality
Magilligan Benone
Magilligan Downhill
Castlerock
Portstewart
Portrush Mill
Portrush Curran
Portrush Whiterocks
Portballintrae Salmon Rock
Ballycastle
Carnlough
Ballygally
Brown’s Bay
Helen’s Bay
Crawfordsburn
Groomsport
Millisle
Cloughey
Kilclief
Ballyhornan
Tyrella
Murlough
Cranfield
Good Quality
Waterfoot
Ballywalter
Sufficient Quality
Ballyholme
Newcastle
The 2024 results for the 7 Candidate Bathing Waters are:
Excellent Quality
Portmuck
Good Quality
Cushendall
Drain’s Bay
Sufficient Quality
Brompton, Bangor
Donaghadee
Warrenpoint
Poor Quality
Rea’s Wood, Antrim
The 2024 Bathing Water Compliance results are available here
About bathing water quality | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
