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Northern Ireland Environment Link launches ‘Step up for Clean Water’ campaign
Northern Ireland Environment Link (NIEL) today launched a new campaign, ‘Step up for Clean Water,’ calling on political leaders to take urgent action to address Northern Ireland’s escalating water-quality crisis.
At a gathering of environmental organisations, community representatives, and policy experts at the Seamus Heaney Centre, stakeholders outlined their priorities for the current and future Northern Ireland Executives. The message was clear: with growing concern over the condition of NI’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters – and against the backdrop of the ecological crisis facing Lough Neagh, and now Belfast Lough – political inaction is no longer acceptable.
NIEL will be writing to all MLAs, urging them to sign a new “Clean Water Pledge”, designed to shift political debate from discussion to real, tangible commitments. Public support and political progress will be tracked through a new online platform where citizens can track their local representatives involvement with the campaign and learn how everyone can play their part.
The Clean Water Pledge is as follows:
“I pledge to step up for clean water – for our rivers, lakes, coasts, and the people and wildlife who depend on them.
I commit to:
- Prioritise nature-based solutions in all planning, development and land-use decision-making to protect and restore our waterways.
- Back schemes that support farmers and land managers who safeguard and improve water quality, nature and soil health as part of a just transition.
- Press for urgent new investment in wastewater infrastructure and clear public reporting on how that investment delivers cleaner water.”
The pledge aims to bring renewed clarity to what the NI Assembly must do to address the crisis, with environmental groups from across Northern Ireland uniting behind the call for stronger leadership, more collaboration, and investment in water protection.
The campaign also comes in the wake of the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) announcement of an investigation into wastewater discharges into Belfast Lough, adding further urgency to long-standing concerns about water governance and infrastructure.
Stay updated across our social media channels for more updates!
See our campaign webpage below:
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