More than £380,000 has been allocated to 16 water quality projects in Northern Ireland, including 11 within the Lough Neagh catchment area.
The projects are to be funded under the Water Quality Improvement Strand of the Environment Fund, following open competition earlier this year.
This builds on the achievements of 2025/2026, which saw £347,000 delivered to improve water quality.
The 16 projects support a wide range of activities that connect people to the aquatic environment; conserve and restore water habitats; and promote nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir said: “After such a successful outing last year, I am delighted to again deliver this funding to councils and non-profit organisations to empower them to undertake projects that improve our water quality.
“The Water Quality Improvement Strand value lies in connecting people to our loughs, lakes and waterways and encouraging them to play their part in caring for our water environment.
“Last year, over 700 volunteers and over 3,000 school pupils took part in projects that saw 5.25t of litter collected, 1,350 trees planted and 1,450m of riparian strip installed, among a range of other environmental benefits.”
The minister congratulated all those who took part and delivered these projects.
“I have no doubt that this year’s projects will be just as worthwhile and I look forward to seeing them delivering on the ground in the Lough Neagh catchment and across Northern Ireland,” he said.
Projects
The water quality improvement projects selected for 2026/2027 will be supported to deliver valuable initiatives, such as habitat and drone surveying, invertebrate sampling and invasive species mapping.
The funding will also support educational programmes that raise awareness and inspire positive change among primary and post-primary school pupils.
Other activities include: enhancing spawning habitats for protected species; encouraging citizen science; organising litter picks; running summer schemes focused on water quality; installing log wall revetments and fencing; constructing leaky dams; providing water awareness advice for farmers; and delivering community workshops on water quality.
Funding delivered in 2025/2026 saw 16 projects completed, which delivered:
- 84km of river surveyed across seven projects;
- 72 volunteer events hosted, focused on litter removal, outfall safaris, water quality workshops, river clean-ups, and invasive species removal;
- 241 members of the public/organisations trained in modules including catchment management, invasive species, identifying outfalls and riverfly sampling;
- 31 outfalls identified and mapped across 177km of river;
- 1,450m of fencing installed, preventing cattle from entering waterways;
- Six leaky dams installed, aiming to slow the flow during high-level events;
- 500m of log wall revetment installed across three projects.
A total of 3,114 school children were engaged through assemblies, volunteer days and water quality-focused workshops both in schools and at the River Torrent, where classes learnt how to identify indicators of good water quality, and measure width, depth and flow of the river.
Further details about the Water Quality Improvement Strand and updates on future funding opportunities, are available on the DAERA website.
The page is refreshed annually when funding becomes available, subject to allocations.