Oh wow, the first time I went to Lough Neagh a decade ago I was extremely unnerved by the intense density of large black flies that blanketed the air above it, so it is shocking to learn that they're no longer there. Deeply troubling.
posted by Joeruckus at 10:04 AM on August 28 [1 favorite]

Thank you for posting this. The conclusion that it would still take 40 years for the lake to recover even if all sewage and effluent stopped flowing into the lake today is upsetting. I just saw this study from US scientists about how a surprising amount of phosphorus in rivers is coming from historical phosphorus, in other words, not the fertilizer being spread on fields this year, but decades old phosphorus.

Stackpoole: We documented that historical phosphorus was a source of river phosphorus at 49 of 143 sites. The agricultural balances at these sites showed us that older legacy phosphorus sources, probably manure and fertilizer inputs from the 1980s, were still having an effect today as a source of river phosphorus.

Q: Did you see any indication that current conservation efforts are working?

Stackpoole: Yes, there is some good news in our story. At 43 river sites, where the agricultural balance has decreased over time, the water quality improved.

posted by spamandkimchi at 10:34 AM on August 28 [5 favorites]

That stuff is nothing to mess around with.

Finland has the highest national rate of Parkinson’s, and possibly ALS as well though I don’t remember that for sure, and it’s generally attributed to the toxic algae in all those lakes. Guam also has very high rates of both those diseases and in Guam's case it’s attributed to the blue green algae which are symbionts of the cycads that grow there.
posted by jamjam at 10:43 AM on August 28 [4 favorites]

Lough Neagh, which supplies more than 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s drinking water,

NI Water said 71 of these storm overflows discharge sewage into Lough Neagh, but none of these have monitors fitted.

Wait. WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCKING FUCK?!?

Agricultural runoff is bad enough but even fucking animals know not to shit in their fucking drinking water. And they don't even know how badly their water source is fucked up.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 11:53 AM on August 28 [6 favorites]

→ WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCKING FUCK?!?

I'm sure it's absolutely nothing to do with:

• Northern Ireland's political and regulatory structure being completely stagnant over the last few years;
• the entire lough being owned by an absentee English toff, the Earl of Shaftesbury.

posted by scruss at 12:52 PM on August 28 [7 favorites]

I'm pretty sure that every community along the Great Lakes does something similar, although hopefully they're all treating their sewage before releasing it. But in Toronto after heavy rains lots of untreated sewage gets released into the lake as well.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:33 PM on August 28

You know what's real frustrating about that "we don't have monitoring" comment by NI Water?

While looking to do my own DIY citizen monitoring of the problem - I found the website of a very high quality, internet capable system, that FEATURES N. IRELAND AS THEIR MAJOR CASE STUDY.

I've been emailing a lot of the environmental groups about that page so they can ask NI Water / The Executive who exactly paid for those systems, are they being used, can that data be publicized, etc. Can maybe they fund more of these stations? Maybe train their staff on them?

People keep blaming the Earl, but he just owns the Lough and not the watershed that is collecting all the runoff that feeds it. He's actively talking about handing it back, but only after a lot of pressure, and maybe not for free.
posted by mrzarquon at 1:40 PM on August 28 [8 favorites]

Knowing a great deal about North American Great Lake Erie, hoping for as speedy a recovery for Lough Neagh, or at least some fair management of it
posted by JoeXIII007 at 4:17 PM on August 28 [2 favorites]

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