Lough Neagh - Water Quantity

Water Levels

Agriculture and Navigation

Whilst drainage schemes and level control measures have prevented severe water level fluctuations, farmers show frustration at not being able to access land early in the growing season. Also, as a result of dry summers and evaporation the Lough levels can fall below the minimum statutory level to maintain a flow in the Lower Bann. In times of drought, a reduced water level can have a noticeable impact on many issues including navigational activities, water quality and on local economies including fishing, fish migration, agriculture, sand extraction and water based recreation.

Public and Private Water Supply

Lough Neagh has been used as a source of water for human needs for many years. It now provides water for approximately one third of the population of Northern Ireland. This involves up to 252Ml/day (3.0m3/s), one fifth of the amount that goes through the Lower Bann fish pass (15.0+m3/s), being abstracted from three locations on the Lough shore to supply the water treatment works at Castor Bay, Dunore Point and Moyola. Water Services' Resource Strategy 2002-2030 confirmed the need for abstraction from Lough Neagh up to the total abstraction right already granted, 382 megalitres/day When operating at peak abstraction levels, the fish pass flows will be at least three times abstraction levels.

Abstraction Control

There is currently no system of licensing abstraction for any purpose from waterbodies in Northern Ireland although in some cases EHS can oppose a new development of abstraction under the planning process. EHS had exercised a degree of control on water abstractions by including volume limits in Water Order consents to discharge. EHS has also stated that groundwater baseflow contributions to surface waterways (e.g. rivers/lakes and wetlands) should be maintained at an acceptable level. Under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 EHS has the power to make regulations to control water abstraction and will keep this under review. The EC Water Framework Directive required that for water quantity, overall principles should be laid down for control on abstraction and impoundment in order to ensure the environmental sustainability of the affected water systems.

Ecosystem Integrity

The Lough Neagh and Lough Beg area is a world-renowed wetland ecosystem and as such has been designated as a Ramsar site. The maintenance of this entire wetland ecosystem as well as the ecosystem of the Lower Bann depends on water. One of the most obvious impacts of higher or lower water levels within the Neagh system is on breeding waders (e.g. snipe, redshank, lapwing, curlew) that nest in the damp grasslands adjoining Loughs Neagh and Beg. The Loughs remain one of the most important areas for these birds whose numbers are declining in Northern Ireland. Lower water levels may make grasslands too dry to be suitable for these birds, while higher levels in spring or summer could flood their nests and cause breeding failure. If water is low during the spring salmon run, fish cannot get into rivers to spawn. Low water levels can also cause important wetlands habitats such as marshes and wet woodlands to dry out. As Lough Neagh is an SPA and ASSI, government has a statutory obligation under European Law to protect and conserve the important species of the area.

Archaeological Conservation

Water levels are essential for preserving organic archaeological layers that provide the widest potential spectrum of materials ranging from robust timbers to human skin and hair. The control of water levels, while primarily for maintaining water quantity, accords well with archaeological conservation principles.