4.1 Case Study: Lough Neagh
Lough Neagh is a lake located in Northern Ireland, measuring 396 square kilometers (Banting 2002, 8). It is the largest lake on the island of Ireland, surrounded by fertile lands used for farming. It is home to a wide range of life, including fish and wild eel (with the largest eel fishery in Europe); in fact, it is home to the most abundant inland fishery in all of Northern Europe. Lough Neagh is also connected to a range of industries, including peat extraction, sand extraction, water extraction, and recreation/tourism, ranging from fishing and boating to cycling and swimming.
In 2023, Ireland’s largest lake came into the news as it was turning green, a result of ‘blue-green algae bloom’, which refers to the process when alga increases to large quantities within a body of water, subsequently sucking oxygen out of water to feed itself. Environmental researchers and experts have associated this recent turn with a range of factors, including sand dredging and pollution from agricultural runoff. Algae feeds off animal excretion, such as excretions from farm animals; this is why the pollution in Lough Neagh is partially attributed to runoff related to farming practices in Northern Ireland. The runoff can seep from the soil into moving waterways, such as rivers, that ultimately flow into larger bodies of water, like Lough Neagh. Overtime, the algae thrive off the additional nutrients in the polluted water, such as the nitrogen and phosphorus present in agricultural runoff (WaterOne n.d.). The algae presents itself as a blue-green foam on the water’s surface and creates toxins that can be poisonous to both people and animals (WaterOne n.d.).
As a result of the poisonous nature of the algae bloom in Lough Neagh, there have been significant impacts on those who work or partake in recreational activities on the lake, as well as impacts to the animal species that inhabit it. For example, fishers are no longer able to fish in certain areas, whilst it is no longer safe to swim or boat on the lake. Local activist groups, including Save Lough Neagh, are actively involved in challenging the environmental pressures causing blue-green algae bloom in Lough Neagh, including staging protests near the lake that question and problematize the role that current farming practices and sand dredging have on the lake’s future. Groups such as People Before Profit have characterized the current state of Lough Neagh as a human rights issue, especially as this body of water is the main source of drinking water for the region (People Before Profit 2023). Activist groups have taken up their cause with news media, as well as posed petitions to the Northern Irish government, appealing to the future of the lake for human and non-human beings alike. They have also developed activities, such as cycle events like Lap the Lough, that raise awareness about community experiences with algae blooms on the lake. Groups such as Save Lough Neagh have written to politicians calling for a full investigation of how sand dredging might be involved in the cause of blue-green algae, as the practice disrupts nutrient deposits on the bed of the lake (Corr 2024).
Sand dredging is a commercial practice where sand is extracted from the beds of bodies of water for commercial purposes, such as sand used for sports fields or housing construction. Friends of the Earth UK has reported that 1.5 million tons of sand are taken from the bed of Lough Neagh each year, a practice that has been ongoing for thirty years now (Orr 2018). According to The Irish Times:
“Sand extraction at Lough Neagh was unregulated until 2021 when a handful of firms were licensed by the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure to dredge up to a total of 1.5 million tonnes annually” (Greene 2022).
As this case study reveals, there are multiple players with stakes in the future sustainability of Ireland’s largest fresh body of water. Politicians, activists, environmental researchers, and corporate interests (such as those involved in sand dredging or unsustainable agricultural practices) play a part in the tug-of-war between the continuation of capitalist motivations and the sustainability of the lake, the preservation of its surrounding ecosystems, the standards required for safe recreational use, and the wider-reaching effects for the residents of Northern Ireland – particularly, their access to nearby drinking water.
