DAERA announces the 2026 bathing water classifications
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DAERA today announced results for Northern Ireland's bathing
waters, with 25 of the 33 identified bathing waters achieving the
Excellent standard. Speaking earlier today, Minister Muir
said: At a time when there is rightly considerable concern
about water quality, I am delighted to announce that 25 of our 33
bathing waters have achieved the Excellent standard. It is also
encouraging that an additional site, Drain's Bay, has moved from a
Good' in 2025 to Excellent' in...Request free trial
DAERA today announced results for Northern Ireland's bathing waters, with 25 of the 33 identified bathing waters achieving the Excellent standard. Speaking earlier today, Minister Muir said: At a time when there is rightly considerable concern about water quality, I am delighted to announce that 25 of our 33 bathing waters have achieved the Excellent standard. It is also encouraging that an additional site, Drain's Bay, has moved from a Good' in 2025 to Excellent' in 2026. This is the highest number of sites at Excellent that we have ever recorded. There is a total of 33 identified bathing waters in Northern Ireland, 32 coastal and one inland. The classifications at bathing sites are based on bacteriological results over a four-year period. The results are then classified as Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor. In 2026, 25 sites have met the Excellent' standard, a further four have met the Good' standard, three are classified as Sufficient' and one site at Rea's Wood, Antrim has failed to meet the minimum standard for the second consecutive year. Acknowledging the ongoing challenges at Rea's Wood, including the presence of blue-green algae and the advice against bathing throughout the 2026 season, the Minister added: While today's overall results are positive, the continued situation at Rea's Wood is extremely concerning. It is a clear reminder that significant challenges remain, particularly at Lough Neagh. Every day I am striving to tackle pollution and improve water quality across Northern Ireland. Whether it's new legislation to strengthen fines and penalties to better hold polluters to account, seeking to end the by-ball afforded to NI Water, making a special designation for Inner Belfast Lough shellfish water protected area and seeking to introduce new Nutrients Action Programme regulations to tackle pollution from agricultural sources. Leadership from others to back the difficult decisions required is essential. Alongside continued sampling, monitoring and investigative catchment work to improve water quality, the Department is further developing the Bathing Water Quality Dashboard to ensure timely clear information for the public. Minister Muir said: It is critical that the public has the best information possible in making decisions on where and when to bathe or do water sports. We have been delighted with the feedback received on our one-stop-shop Bathing Water Dashboard and will continue to work with the Better Beaches Forum led by my Department, in further improving this. He added: I am also keen to improve our predictive capability on bathing water quality. My department and NI Water are developing an Event Duration Monitors Viewer for bathing waters, initially to be piloted at Ballyholme and Newcastle, using near real-time data to show storm overflow activity. Subject to successful testing, a public-facing platform is expected ahead of the 2027 bathing season. I am hopeful we can use the pilot for much wider roll out at much more sites in the future. Northern Ireland Water has 2,433 storm overflows, with 800 Event Duration Monitors (EDMs) installed to date across their wastewater network, which prioritise bathing waters, shellfish waters, Lough Neagh and other sensitive waters. Speaking in the wider context, Minister Muir talked of his vision for the bathing water programme in the future: The bathing water programme is something that I have been passionate about since before I came into this Ministerial post. That is why I commissioned a review of how we run this programme to better reflect how the public is using our waters for outdoor recreation. We are currently considering the findings of the consultation and will be announcing way forward next month. My vision is that the public can make informed choices underpinned by sound, accessible evidence, at as many of the most popular sites as is possible. The 2026 results for the 33 identified bathing waters are as follows: Excellent Quality Ballycastle Ballygally Ballyhornan Brown's Bay Carnlough Castlerock Cloughey Cranfield Crawfordsburn Cushendall Drain's Bay Groomsport Helen's Bay Kilclief Magilligan Benone Magilligan Downhill Millisle Murlough Portballintrae Salmon Rock Portmuck Portrush Curran Portrush Mill Portrush Whiterocks Portstewart Tyrella Good Quality Ballyholme Ballywalter Brompton Waterfoot Sufficient Quality Donaghadee Newcastle Warrenpoint Poor Quality Rea's Wood Notes to editors:
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