Join our call for better protection of Northern Ireland’s recreational waters
The Northern Ireland Sports Forum, Clean Water Sports Alliance NI, and Outscape have published joint responses to DAERA’s Bathing Waters Policy Review.
We are encouraging sports governing bodies, clubs, community organisations and individual recreational water users to draw on these documents and submit their own responses before the consultation closes at 5pm on Friday 21 August 2026.
Good water quality is fundamental to outdoor recreation. Confidence in the safety of Northern Ireland’s rivers, lakes and coastline directly influences participation in swimming, paddlesports, sailing, surfing, angling, triathlon and other activities.
These activities support physical and mental wellbeing, community connections, tourism and local economies. The People in the Outdoors Monitor for Northern Ireland 2025 found that:
- 70% of adults spend time outdoors in natural places at least weekly;
- 80% would like to spend more of their free time outdoors; and
- 82% of visits are motivated by health or wellbeing.
However, bathing-water policy remains largely centred on the traditional idea of a summer swimmer. Recreational use has changed significantly, with many people now participating in a diverse and evolving range of activities throughout the year. Policy and monitoring arrangements need to reflect this reality.
The changes we need to see
We are calling on DAERA to:
- recognise all recreational water users, not only traditional bathers, when deciding where and when monitoring is required;
- extend the standard bathing-water season to 1 April-31 October, supported by targeted winter or year-round monitoring where use or public-health risk justifies it;
- provide accessible and timely information, including a mobile-friendly dashboard, real-time pollution alerts and open data;
- ensure monitoring reflects actual use and risk, with greater scrutiny of higher-risk sites and clear safeguards before reducing sampling at genuinely low-risk Excellent sites; and
- use monitoring to drive improvement, supported by investment, polluter accountability and published, time-bound improvement plans for polluted waters.
Add your voice
The consultation is open to everyone. Responses from governing bodies, clubs and individual participants will help demonstrate how Northern Ireland’s waters are used and why the policy must protect the full range of recreational water users.
Our two joint responses (online form and detailed response) can be downloaded and adapted, with examples from your own activity, club, location or experience. Given the online form’s limited word count, we recommend completing it and emailing a fuller response to waterpolicy@daera-ni.gov.uk.
- CWSANI Outscape NISF Joint Response for the ONLINE FORM (13 Aug 2026)
- [Download the detailed joint response]
- Read the consultation and respond to DAERA
Please submit your response to DAERA by 5pm on Friday 21 August 2026.
