We saw lough crisis coming 20 years ago

Pollution of lake is killing animals, causing illness and costing jobs | Significant areas of algal bloom found in 65 different locations

- SHAUNA CORR

ALGAL blooms like the one that decimated Lough Neagh this summer were predicted over 20 years ago, it is claimed. 

But the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has allegedly failed to stem the flow of pollution in Lough Neagh, which their own staff admit has caused the major blue-green algal bloom.

Pieter-Jan Schon, director of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, revealed the long-known possibility during a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

Gareth Greer from Northern Ireland Environment Agency water management unit highlighted how the levels of phosphorus entering Lough Neagh presented an 80% risk “of a bloom like this” since the early 2000s.