Seven of Northern Ireland’s water-based National Governing Bodies have come together to tackle the growing issue of polluted water in Northern Ireland.

Water-based activity is a major part of sport and recreation in Northern Ireland. The Clean Water Sports Alliance NI represents over 22,000 club members and 300,000 participants, and with six out of seven Olympic medals from NI athletes at Paris 2024 coming in water-based events, it is a crucial aspect of performance sport across the country.

The Alliance is currently made up of representatives from; Swim Ulster, Paddle NI, Rowing Ireland NI Branch, the Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland, the Ulster Angling Federation, National Coarse Fishing Federation Ireland (NCFFI) and Triathlon Ireland.  This united approach highlights the decisive action being taken by Governing Bodies across NI and is supported by the NI Sports Forum.

Representatives from each of the Governing Bodies involved in the Clean Water Sports Alliance NI will meet at Stormont on 2 April to lobby for the three ‘asks’ of the campaign. These are:

1. A long-term funding commitment put in place to improve water quality and regulation
2. Investment into real-time water quality monitoring equipment
3. Advocating a change from ‘bathing waters’ to ‘recreation waters’ within government policy to recognise the wide range of activities that depend on clean water

The 2024 River Trust’s “State of our River’s report” revealed 100% of river stretches and lakes in NI failed to meet ‘good’ overall status, highlighting the need for firm and immediate action on the issue. Protection of waterways will safeguard the health of participants and the future of major elements of performance sport across the country.

Highlighting impacts on training, current Irish sailing champion, Dan McGaughey, said: “When I’m not out on the water, I’m losing days training and I’m losing experience against everyone else. I only have a set period of time to do blocks of training, so being forced to take days off because of poor water quality has a large impact. 

“It’s really important that we have a water quality monitoring system in Northern Ireland. If I’m there every day and I’m unaware of the quality of the water, then how is someone who wants to enjoy their hobby meant to tell if the water is a risk to them?”

David Thompson from the Ulster Angling Federation added: “Some of the biggest challenges we’ve faced have been the impact of pollution events. These aren’t just happening once in a blue moon, they’re happening quite regularly.

“For angling, if the environment is in a poor state, angling is in a poor state. There is a knock-on impact on the community and over the last five years this seems to have got progressively worse.”

Richard Timms from Swim Ulster added: “The Get Wet Stay Safe programme delivers educational safety messages and open water skills for swimmers on weather, tides, winds and completing a dynamic risk assessment (which includes checking on water quality). In 2024 we had to cancel programmes and events due to blue-green algae on Lough Neagh and poor water quality on the North Coast after periods of heavy rainfall.

“Clean water is paramount to us supporting and delivering programmes and events to develop the sport of open water swimming. Without clean water in Northern Ireland, we’ll never attract new participants.”

On top of the ambitions of the Clean Water Sports Alliance NI helping those who use waterways directly, their actions will also help the wider population in Northern Ireland.

The 2019 Sport NI report, ‘Assessing The Economic Impact Of Outdoor Recreation In Northern Ireland’, highlighted the economic impact of the Outdoor Recreation Sector with GVA representing at least £132M to the local economy. The report also revealed that the sector created over 4,800 full-time job roles.

The Clean Water Sports Alliance NI is a major step forward in the ongoing movement to protect Northern Ireland’s waterways, but success on this crucial issue will require the comprehensive backing of government, as well as public support.

To better understand the ambitions of the Clean Water Sports Alliance NI, watch this video.