Significant Water Management Issues Consultation

Overview

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) welcomes your views on the Significant Water Management Issues 2025 Report.

Northern Ireland’s water resources are managed and protected using a catchment-based approach which includes rivers, lakes and groundwater as well as coastal and transitional water bodies.

Under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017, DAERA is required to produce a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) every six years. The current RBMP is the third cycle Plan which covers the period 2021-2027. It gives an overview of Northern Ireland’s water bodies, describes the progress Northern Ireland made towards achieving the 2021 objectives, sets environmental objectives for 2027, identifies priority catchments, and sets out a Programme of Measures to address the pressures acting upon the water environment.

Consultation on the SWMI Report is a crucial stage in the development of the fourth cycle RBMP which will cover the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2033.  The SWMI report is based on a review of the state of Northern Ireland’s water bodies and the main pollution and pressures impacting on them. Results of this analysis are summarised and presented at Local Management Area (LMA) level.

The information you provide in completing this consultation will be controlled and processed by DAERA in line with Data Protection Legislation. To find out more about how we handle your personal information, DAERA’s Privacy Notice can be viewed online at  http://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/daera-privacy-statement

Why your views matter

This consultation gives you an opportunity to review the issues we have identified in the SWMI Report and provide feedback to the Department. This will help with the development of effective measures to manage and protect Northern Ireland’s water resources.

A summary of the responses received will be published after the consultation has closed. We will not respond individually to the points you raise, nor will we acknowledge receipt of individual responses unless requested.

We will use feedback from this consultation and from other stakeholder engagement to help us to draft the fourth cycle RBMP, which will include a draft Programme of Measures.  The draft RBMP will be published for consultation in December 2026.