Freshwater lake now contaminated by blooms of poisonous blue-green algae

Listen | 34:55

Lough Neagh is dying in plain sight: the entire body of water has been contaminated by blooms of poisonous blue-green algae. How has it happened that the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Britain has become toxic and, as Northern Ireland still does not have a working government in Stormont, what can be done to reverse this disaster?

Northern editor Freya McClements visited Lough Neagh to talk to people whose lives have been impacted and to report on the deadly effects on wildlife and biodiversity and on the water supplies feeding into homes in Belfast and beyond. She explains both the cause and the effect of this toxic disaster.

Eel fisherman Gerard McCourt tells In the News how his business has been drastically curtailed and Fiona Regan of DCU’s Water Institute points to policy decisions around farming as key culprits in this year’s Lough Neagh disaster.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast