Monitoring water quality in our Sea Loughs

13 December 2006

Four new high-tech systems, to monitor continuously water quality in and around Loughs Foyle and Carlingford, are starting to provide greatly enhanced data for use by cross border bodies, thanks to funding of €270,000 by the European Union’s INTERREG IIIA Programme.

Dr Paddy Boylan, Biologist with the Loughs Agency, a statutory cross border body, explains that while there has been monitoring of the water quality in both Foyle and Carlingford Loughs for several years, the proposal for funding of four more automated environmental monitoring systems was made so that the project could be intensified and more and better data gathered.

“The first two of the new buoys were installed almost a year ago - one in Lough Foyle and the other in Carlingford Lough. It took several months to install and test the high-tech system, but the information now coming through has improved dramatically,” Paddy said. “Where before we used to go out by boat to take water samples, maybe once a week or month, with these new buoys in operation the water quality is monitored continuously and data downloaded to computers,” he added. The third new buoy will shortly be positioned out at sea off Lough Foyle. “This will help us to get a better overall picture of the area’s water quality.

There is also the potential for it to be used as an early warning system, for example plankton blooms approaching the lough, which can pose a threat to shell fisheries,” Paddy explained. The fourth buoy is to be positioned in the freshwater Lough Fad on Inishowen in County Donegal. Its role will be tied in to conservation work, to monitor the activity of the rare Arctic char fish population. “This will be very exciting,” Paddy commented. “One of the primary purposes of the monitoring is to provide accurate information on water quality for shell fisheries on both loughs.

The data also feeds into a study on the shellfish population capacity of each lough. In addition, the monitoring is also used to check and report on our compliance with the requirements of the European Community Water Framework Directive, through its provision to both the Environment and Heritage Service in the north and the Environmental Protection Agency in the south” Paddy explains. The monitoring data is made widely available on a cross border basis to government bodies and agencies.