Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Lough Neagh - Then and Now
Why we are making a website about Lough Neagh?
My daughter and I used to swim in Lough Neagh and other areas until Summer 2023, then Warning notices not to let the water touch us or breath in any water vapour were erected on the Lough Shores. Wildlife died, pets died and businesses closed down due to the poisoned water.
Many of these signs remain present, as the danger is still around despite having become microscopic.
The cause
There are many problems contributing to the Lough.
One of the most immediately actionable is the chemicals we're using in our homes, as these are being released untreated into the lakes and rivers.
On my own I may be a little to blame and I certainly am.
Read the labels on the products you have at home, at work, and in friends houses.
How many of them shock you as they did me?
"Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects"
"Avoid release into the environment"
We're all quite used to the warnings for ourselves not to touch these products, to get them off our skin and out of our eyes if we come into contact with them, to call a hospital if the irritation persists.
Wildlife does not have this option.
Fish can not escape contact with the contaminated water. As a result fish have been dying off in droves.
Visualise your local supermarket, the household aisle with its hundreds of bottles of cleaners and detergents. Visualise all the local supermarkets in your town, then the town over, and the town next to that, and so on.
Visualise the sheer amount of this poison that is being sold by the day.
Know the government is allowing these poisons to be released untreated directly into the waterways.
Of course there are other problems adding to the blue green algae in Lough Neagh, other loughs and waterways, but this is the one we have the most direct control of.
People have been trying for decades to get politicians and water management teams to do the jobs they are paid for.
That has not been effective so far.
The politicians do not seem to care what we have to say. There is money to be made for them.
People will still have action groups and meetings and trudge on with best intentions.
Things may change unlike the last few decades where things have degenerated to this point where the water touching you is dangerous and pet dogs have died from drinking the water, fish in their hundreds have died, wildlife is in trouble.
We need to approach this problem with a direct action solution. Calling for protests and signing petitions are actions that have a place however we need to change first as that can have an immediate effect, not depending on changing other peoples behaviours.
We can make a more immediate difference
What can we each person do to be effective in helping to cure our waterways?
If we change which brands we are buying, the companies that are producing these poisons will react when they realise their wallets are getting thin.
The majority of hygiene products may become earth friendly as a result.
We can easily be effective if we shop wiser.
Not everyone is able to make products such as home made soaps.
The easier way is to pick up earth friendly products when doing your usual shopping.
That's it.
Read the labels as you shop.
We will not cure all the ills this way however we can make the difference without waiting for politicians to get their act together.
Alone I am one household, I'm not going to make a massive difference.
So I started this blog and took to the internet in hope that we ordinary folk together will unite.
All our shopping baskets together can make a mighty difference, if they won't listen to what we say, We'll just have to hit their beloved profits.
The politicians need to prevent untreated dumping, until then we need to provide fewer chemicals for them to dump in the immediate future while working on other problems.
Right now we have power in our own lives to make a combined effort for real change.
Conclusion
Lough Neagh is the heart of the North in many ways.
The Lough is the water source for most of Belfast including hospitals, such as the children's hospital and specialised wards for cancer.
Lough Neagh is the source of the water that comes into my home. You can check if your homes water comes from Lough Neagh or another polluted Lough too.
We all need to drink and use water.
Who wants to think about taking a bath, only to realise that water has recently had raw sewage piped into it?
How many of us have heard about the old practise of dumping sewage into the River Thames, only to turn our noses up at the idea of having an open sewer in a city?
Who in our modern era would have ever even taken a guess that such a stomach churning practise is still being used?
The infographic to the right is an infographic taken directly from the website niwater.com, NI waters official website. It illustrates how the sewer and storm systems are shared pipes, showing how untreated sewer water is released on overflow into rivers and sea shores.
Not what you want to consider on your next beach day.
This is about more then Lough Neagh.
However Lough Neagh is the reason I realised so much harm is being done and the effects on our waterways.
Changing our purchasing habits is our best bet to get these problems solved. Signatures on petitions and numbers on ballot tickets have gone ignored or not changed enough, so lets start voting with our bank cards/cash instead.
There are other factors causing the blue green algae to grow.
I have no control over those.
I do have control over my choice of products so I chose to leave the dangerous products on the shelves.
Buy earth friendly products please if not doing so already,
Thank you
