The Earth's Corr: If you care about clean water - there's a march this Sunday

People all around the world have a right to safe drinking water and sanitation - human rights that have been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and doubled down in UN social development goal six.

While NI Water insists the drinking water it provides is safe, those assertions don’t appear to have allayed fears about drinking water from Lough Neagh and other water bodies impacted by blue-green algae with many turning to bottled water and filters for peace of mind.

Drinking water is one element of the fears about illegal levels of pollution flooding NI waterways causing bacteria infested beaches, stagnating swimming waters, contaminated rivers, septic wildlife lagoons and sewage debris that is risking people and wildlife alike.

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But many I’ve spoken to are also hugely concerned about the growing impact high levels of pollution are having on everything from our ability to swim safely in the wild, use beaches, take dogs for a walk without worrying they might die from ingesting toxic bacteria and the affect pollution it is no doubt having on already declining wildlife that don’t have a tap to drink from.

Yet despite these very real and valid fears, politicians appear to be doing little to grasp the bucking bull that is rising pollution by the horns and ringfence the money needed to fix it.

I spoke to head of the Living With Water Programme, Paddy Brow two weeks ago, for a story I thought might have the country up in arms - and that’s the huge levels of pollution in Belfast Lough now putting its recreational value at risk.

Combined, the state of Lough Neagh, Belfast Lough, NI’s many other waterways and NI Water’s own creaking infrastructure are one of the biggest political scandals of our lifetimes - but reaction across the board has been tepid to say the least.

Where’s the outrage from businesses that can’t get planning permission for new builds or wildlife groups aiming to clean up the countryside to support dwindling species? Where’s the politicians calling out years of inaction that have left us in this position?

Where’s the huge public backlash against Stormont’s failure to deliver the Living With Water Programme that was designed to fix at least some of the issues causing these problems.

Are we so broken, we no longer have the capacity to care or want to do something about major societal problems like the water pollution which impacts us all?

Action is urgently needed. That’s why I’m delighted to see around 20 groups have joined forces to support a Belfast march for clean water in the city at 2pm this Sunday as part of a UK-wide action.

The groups say they are “marching against the catastrophic level of sewage dumping and the inaction on our crisis with Lough Neagh and our waterways”.

If you have no idea what that looks like, or why it’s such a big problem, you need look no further than the dozens of reports about how water pollution turned Lough Neagh and many of our other waterways green - or the more recent ‘Story of Belfast Lough’ which sets out the issues impacting its beaches, lagoons, rivers, streams and the people or wildlife that use them in technicolour.

Do we want a country where our children can’t play on beaches or frolic in the surf; where we can’t walk our dogs around lakes for fear they might ingest something that could kill them.

How would react if all the fish in our rivers and lakes floated dead to surface because pollution has reached such harmful levels, or waters no longer support life?

Do we want to end NI tourism that depends on attracting people to our coastlines or firms encouraging people to get out in nature? Is our goal to stop any new homes being built because the sewage systems can’t support them?

But on top of all that, are you not fuming the government repeatedly fails to meet targets and goals designed to provide a safe and clean environment for our people, the wildlife we share it with, to bring species back from the brink and to lower carbon emissions - for which healthy seas will be needed?

Water is the cornerstone of everything - that’s why early settlements sprouted from its sources and why Belfast, which is named for the River Farset, is what it is today.

But down through the years, we’ve polluted and rerouted those sources, moulding nature to what we want it to be and not what it needs to be to remain clean and sustainable.

We tip sewage at record rates into NI waters through thousands of sewage overflows, allow companies and households to discharge their waste into tributaries and streams and waterways supporting everything from bird populations to benthic creatures and molluscs while others are licenced to strip water from natural sources, without paying for what they take.

And despite the plethora of laws delivered down through the years to help up clean up the damage we’ve done - Stormont is still failing to deliver. If you think that’s good enough, then go on about your business by all means, but if you want to see change - you need to start calling out these failures.

So why not take to the streets of Belfast on Sunday to show Stormont what you think about its failure to deliver the funding to clean up NI's waters, once and for all?

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Living With Water Belfast is estimated to cost £2.1 billion - while the cost of fixing the A5 has ballooned to £1.7 billion.

And according to sources, John O’Dowd has had to choose between the two, leaving him robbing Peter to pay Paul as the saying goes.

One project will improve a 58 mile stretch of already existing road, where 57 people have lost their lives in a range of incidents since 2006 - and their families have my most sincere sympathies.

But the other project will deliver a programme of waste water infrastructure upgrades and flood defences that will protect a city of over 300,000 people; tackle the pollution in its waters, parks, rivers and beaches and allow construction firms to start building thousands of much needed homes to tackle the housing crisis.

It will also help bring Stormont into line with pollution reduction targets, help reduce biodiversity loss and fight the climate crisis by cleaning up seas to help them store more carbon.

It will support tourism, fishers and other businesses that rely on clean water to do their bit for the economy and ensure the natural environments many rely on for their wellbeing are as clean as they can be - and not sparking public health concerns.

Which choice would you make if you were Minister John O’Dowd?

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