What We’d Like to See
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Better, More Timely Information
Nobody wants to discover after entering the water that a sewage discharge happened upstream a few hours earlier.
While DAERA’s Bathing Water Quality Dashboard is a positive step, water users need access to more up-to-date information, including:
- Real-time continuous sewage discharge notifications
- Pollution risk forecasts
- Rainfall and river-flow impacts
- Public health warnings during high-risk periods
- Easier-to-understand information on water quality risks
- Static signs can quickly become out of date. Digital tools, QR codes and live updates can help people make safer choices before entering the water.
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Protection for All Water Users, All Year Round
Current bathing water systems tend to focus on traditional bathing locations and peak summer use. But water recreation doesn’t stop in September. Thousands of people use Northern Ireland’s rivers, loughs and coastlines throughout autumn and winter. Any future policy should recognise the reality of modern water use and ensure all recreational users benefit from water quality monitoring and public information.
This is particularly important because our evidence suggests water quality tends to be worse outside the formal bathing season. SAS’s Ripple Effect 2026 citizen science report found that 81% of sites tested failed to meet minimum water quality standards across the year, with water quality often deteriorating during the winter months. The findings highlight a major weakness in the current system: a site can achieve an “Excellent” bathing water classification based on summer testing alone, while experiencing much poorer water quality throughout the rest of the year when many people are still swimming, surfing and paddling. Summer-only monitoring risks presenting an overly optimistic picture of water quality and the potential risks faced by year-round water users. We also found that bathing waters remain untested for much of the year under current regulations, despite many people using these spaces year-round. This creates significant gaps in our understanding of the health risks facing recreational water users outside the official bathing season.
Read The Ripple Effect 2026 report
This evidence reinforces the need for year-round monitoring and protections that reflect how people actually use our waters today.
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Greater Transparency Around Pollution
People deserve to know when pollution enters their local waters.
Northern Ireland continues to lag behind parts of the UK when it comes to sewage spill transparency and monitoring coverage. Northern Ireland monitors only a small proportion of combined sewer overflows, making it difficult for communities to understand the true scale of pollution events.
Better monitoring and public reporting would help:
- Protect public health
- Build public trust
- Drive investment into infrastructure improvements
- Hold polluters accountable
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More Bathing Waters, Not Fewer
Bathing water designation shouldn’t disappear simply because a site has poor water quality. In many cases, designation is what shines a spotlight on pollution problems in the first place.
Removing monitoring risks hiding pollution rather than fixing it. Instead, poor-performing sites should receive greater scrutiny, stronger public information and a clear plan for improvement.
We need a simpler and more accessible process for obtaining bathing water status. At present, potential bathing water sites can only be nominated every four years. DAERA should instead introduce an annual application process, allowing new sites to be considered on a rolling basis and ensuring opportunities are not missed due to restrictive application windows.
Greater transparency is also needed in the decision-making process. DAERA should clearly set out the criteria used to assess nominated locations and explain how final decisions are reached. Publishing this information would help build public confidence, improve accountability, and enable communities to better understand how bathing water designations are determined.
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The Human Cost of Pollution
Water pollution isn’t just an environmental issue – it’s a public health issue. 592,478 sewage discharges were recorded across the UK during 2024. But we estimate the real figure could be closer to one million discharges, partly due to underreporting and limited monitoring in some nations, including Northern Ireland.
1,853 sickness reports were submitted through SAS’s Safer Seas & Rivers Service during 2024 by people who believed they became ill after using the water, which is shocking but also a massive undervaluation – the real figure will be much higher. Of the recorded illnesses, more than 330 individuals sought medical treatment following suspected pollution-related illness. These figures remind us why robust monitoring, transparency and public information matter.
Read the Latest Evidence
To learn more about water quality and sewage pollution, check out:
📖 Surfers Against Sewage Water Quality Report 2025
📊 SAS Data HQ – explore sewage, sickness and recreation data
Tell Us How You Use Your Wild Waters
Alongside responding to the consultation, we’re gathering evidence about how people interact with their local rivers, loughs, beaches and coastlines. Considering that post-water-use sickness is massively under-reported in NI, we would be grateful if you told us your experiences to help aid our consultation response.
If you haven’t already, please complete our survey:
The more evidence we have about where, when and how people use these spaces, the stronger the case for better protection, improved monitoring and greater transparency.
Together, we can push for cleaner waters, better information and stronger protections for everyone who enjoys Northern Ireland’s blue spaces.