Revealed: How Lough Erne is being used as a sewage dump

Sustained underinvestment in the county’s wastewater infrastructure, worsened by “fragmented management” of regional water bodies, including the Erne system, has prompted calls for increased funding and for an integrated management body with executive control over the Erne.

Around 250,000 tonnes of raw untreated sewage is estimated to be discharged into the Erne annually around Enniskillen town from 400 spills, according to NI Water data. By comparison, only 28,000 tonnes is discharged around Ballymena – a town twice the size of Enniskillen.

According to the data, there are 188 Combined Sewage Outflows (CSOs) in the Fermanagh and Omagh (FODC) area. This is the highest number of sewage outflows per capita in all 11 council areas. Belfast – with three times the population - has 195 sewage outflows Only six CSOs in the FODC area are in a ‘satisfactory’ condition, while 59 are ‘unsatisfactory’. The condition of the remaining 123 is ‘unknown’. 32 out of the 37 CSOs around Enniskillen are also considered ‘unsatisfactory’.

Between 2016 and 2021, the FODC area received the lowest per capita levels of capital investment in sewage infrastructure out of every local authority area in Northern Ireland. This withholding of vital funding from the Erne catchment is planned to continue between the current programmed period, running from 2021 to 2027. The area is set to receive the lowest level of capital funding of all 11 council areas - even allowing for variations in population In addition, the FODC area has a high level of septic tank use – the third-highest in Northern Ireland at 22,000 septic tanks as of 2022. There are 45,000 households in the local authority area, according to the 2021 census, indicating that a large proportion of households are not connected to the public sewerage system.

Other council areas with a similarly high level of septic tank installation – such as the Mid-Ulster and Newry & Mourne council areas, with 26,000 and 23,000 respectively - are set to receive between four and five times the level of pro rata capital funding from NI Water as FODC is between now and 2027.

Willie Methven, a water quality campaigner and regular user of the Erne for kayaking and other freshwater leisure pursuits, collated some of this data from NI Water and other public authorities.

He has tried to coordinate local grassroots efforts highlighting underinvestment in the North West.

Mr. Methven told The Impartial Reporter the wastewater figures reflect a wider pattern of neglect for the area.

“In the treatment of sewage we see a familiar pattern to Fermanagh residents,” he says.

“Once again Fermanagh is being badly neglected by government; in this particular case, by Northern Ireland Water.

“Figures released by Northern Ireland Water clearly show that Fermanagh is being denied capital investment in sewage infrastructure because the Erne is being exploited as a free sewage disposal system to cut costs.

“Given that the Erne is vital to the local economy, to the wider environment and to public health, this practice must be stopped and investment substantially increased in sewage treatment in Fermanagh.”

Mr. Methven believes the Erne system should be granted National Park status in order to bring about more effective, integrated management of the watershed.

Unlike Lough Neagh and Lough Foyle, where the bed and banks are owned by the Earl of Shaftesbury (in the former case) and the Crown Estate (in the latter), the Erne system is entirely in public control. However, its governance structures are fragmented, Methven argues.

“Part of the reason for the mismanagement of the Erne is the absence of any overall long term strategy,” he says.

“In Northern Ireland at least six different public bodies have varying responsibilities for the Erne system with no overall coordination between them nor between them and the southern authorities.

“This has led to a chaotic and uncoordinated approach to such an iconic body of water covering five cross-Border counties.

“I call on DAERA [the Department of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs] as the owner of the lough bed in Northern Ireland to take a lead with the Department of Agriculture in the South in creating an overall management body for the entire Erne system.”

Mr. Methven and a retired Enniskillen scientist believe long-term contamination of the Lough Erne system through agricultural waste and sewage discharges has been contributing to dramatic changes in the area’s water bodies. Fish stocks at the Erne have fallen by around 50 per cent since the 1970s, according to data from the FODC Classic International Fishing Festival.

Agricultural waste, including slurry runoff, is thought to be the main contributor to pollution incidents at the Erne over the last five years, having accounted for 44% of all cases during that time. NI Water, meanwhile, has been responsible for 12% of those cases.

Fermanagh’s wastewater problems are, however, creating other headaches for the authorities and posing serious risks to public health – beyond the role human sewage has played in contributing to blue-green algal blooms that were recorded at the Erne this summer.

Northern Ireland’s creaking wastewater infrastructure is estimated to be holding back the construction of tens of thousands of private and social housing developments.

In Fermanagh, a lack of wastewater infrastructure investment has led to housing developments that are unconnected to the public sewerage network.

Lack of connection to the public wastewater network has created headaches for the authorities at recent housing developments in and around Enniskillen – including the Galliagh Shore estate – which has resulted in untreated human sewage washing into the Erne system.

Additionally, retired aquatic systems researcher Dr. John Spence points to other water bodies in the region that may have been impacted by nutrient pressures and other contamination at Lough Erne. He says that Donegal Bay has been “bearing the brunt” of nutrient inputs at the Erne system, including phosphates and nitrates from agricultural runoff and human sewage.

“There is a lot of evidence that the inland part of Donegal Bay has undergone some dramatic changes over the last 20 or 30 years.

“I know this from talking to fishermen, shellfish farmers and fish farmers who’ve experienced the Bay over that time period. And what I do know is that the Erne, like Lough Neagh, is overloaded with nutrients.

“There’s a lot of phosphorous, nitrogen and ammonia coming in – that’s what causes the blue-green algal blooms – and that water is running through the dam at Ballyshannon, directly into Donegal Bay. It is the major inflow into Donegal Bay.”

Dr. Spence says that “careful research” needs to be carried out into the longer-term impacts that nutrient inflow at Lough Erne has been having on Donegal Bay’s ecology.

“Somebody needs to look very carefully at what those consequences of eutrophication of the marine environment are because almost certainly it has deteriorated the quality of the Donegal Bay environment.

“Somebody needs to take a long-term look at the impact of nutrients flowing from Lough Erne in Northern Ireland - in a Brexited situation, not subject to European regulation – on the European Union and the coastline of Donegal.

“If you talk to fishermen in Donegal, they will talk about major changes in fish stocks that they don’t quite understand. So we do know that there has been major ecological change, just from the evidence of local fishermen and fish farmers and other people using Donegal Bay. But nobody has put it all together into, if you like, a ‘nutrient budget’ for what’s happening there.”

Dr. Spence added that Lough Erne should be afforded its own dedicated research station, having never had one. Currently, research at the Erne is largely carried out by DAERA.

“There should be [a research facility at the Erne]. It’s a major international water body, rising largely in Monaghan and Cavan – something like 40 per cent of the head waters are south of the border – then it flows through Co Fermanagh, before flowing back into the European Union, into the Republic of Ireland.

“Overall, no one is looking after the Erne – just as no one is looking after Lough Neagh.”

A spokesperson for Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said: “The Council does not hold an official corporate position regarding the establishment of a research station on, or the management of, Lough Erne.

“Any decisions on such matters would be subject to consideration and approval by the Council.”

FODC’s spokesperson also told The Impartial Reporter that council members had expressed “significant concerns” on residents’ behalf to NI Water and the Department for Infrastructure over sewerage issues in the local area.

A spokesperson for NI Water said: “It is well documented that the current wastewater system across Northern Ireland, including Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area, simply cannot cope and requires significant levels of investment spanning multiple years.

“We already have lower environmental standards in relation to wastewater than any other part of the UK – and we are struggling to meet these lower standards.

“It should also be noted nutrient contribution is complex across catchments and may derive from multiple sources, i.e. misconnections of toilets/washing machines to the storm sewers, which flow directly to watercourses etc.”

The spokesperson also said: “NI Water is a heavily regulated utility that does not allocate funding by council areas.

“Funding is allocated by working with all of our key stakeholders to address environmental (and drinking water) legislation and provide value for money for Northern Ireland consumers.

“The Department for Infrastructure has provided NI Water with a total indicative budget allocation of almost £0.5 billion for 2024/25, which is less than the levels the Utility Regulator determined were necessary.

“To accommodate such significant budget reductions from the level set by the Utility Regulator, NI Water is sacrificing many PC21 new asset builds and asset upgrades projects.”

The spokesperson added that “NI Water is committed to progressing work in relation to storm overflows”, that more information can be found on its website and that residents’ septic tanks “must be registered with DAERA”.

DAERA and DfI have been contacted for comment.