Rivers
Rivers are important natural resources for agriculture, fisheries, and recreational use, as well as a sources of drinking water. Around 13% of drinking water in Northern Ireland is taken from rivers, while many waterways also support fresh water habitats with species of national and international importance.
However, some uses can threaten the water quality of rivers, while there may also be pollution from other activities in the surrounding areas.
Pollution can be from single sources such as industrial or sewage discharges.It can also come from diffuse sources, such as road or agricultural run-off.
Ultimately, pollution entering rivers makes its way into the marine environment and affects estuarine and coastal water quality.
It is important that rivers are protected from pollution and managed as a sustainable resource as many of the activities based in and around our rivers depend on standards being maintained.
The main river network in Northern Ireland has been monitored regularly for more than 30 years. Chemical monitoring began in the early 1970's and has been complemented by biological monitoring since 1990.
Rivers are monitored both chemically and biologically to assess their water quality and level of compliance with a range of national standards, European Union (EU) Directives and international agreements.
From the early 1990's NIEA and its predecessors classified rivers using the the General Quality Assessment Scheme (GQA) which was used throughout the UK. Since the publication of the draft Water Framework Directive (WFD) River Basin Plans in December 2008, GQA has been superceded by WFD classification.
Monitoring under the Freshwater Fish Directive (FFD) will continue until 2013 at which time it will be subsumed into the Water Framework Directive. The most recent FFD compliance details are available below.
Freshwater Fish Directive (FFD)
Under the terms of the European Commision (EC) Freshwater Fish Directive (2006/44/EC), 4300 km of rivers and canals and 20 standing waters (lakes and reservoirs) greater than 50 hectares in area have been designated as either salmonid (suitable for game fish) or cyprinid (suitable for coarse fish).
Designated waters are required to comply with quality standards set out in the Directive. Compliance is assessed annually using monitoring results from the calendar year.
- Maps of the most recent available EC Freshwater Fish Directive Compliance (.PDF 458Kb)
- Table of the most recent available EC Freshwater Fish Directive Compliance (.PDF 207Kb)
General Quality Assessment (GQA)
Details about the GQA chemical and biological classification system and historical results can be found on the Historical monitoring results page.
