Open consultation Significant Water Management Issues

Summary

This consultation asks you whether the Department has correctly identified the most significant and frequent pressures on Northern Ireland’s water environment. The consultation will run for six months from 18 December 2025 to 18 June 2026. Please reply online via Citizen Space if possible.

Documents

• Significant Water Management Issues 2025 Consultation Document Adobe PDF (2 MB)
• Annex - Summary of water quality and pressures in each Local Management Area Adobe PDF (15 MB)
• Significant Water Management Issues 2025 Report - Easy Read Version Adobe PDF (883 KB)

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Consultation description

NIEA & DAERA publish this Significant Water Management Issues 2025 report as a critical step during the development of the fourth cycle River Basin Management Plan (RBMP).

This Plan covers the period from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2033. It is a legal requirement under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 to prepare the report.

Identification of the right pressures means an appropriate Programme of Measures can be designed for the fourth cycle RBMP.

The report is based on a review of the state of Northern Ireland’s water bodies and the main pressures impacting on them.

Results of this analysis are summarised and presented at Local Management Area (LMA) level.

The consultation gives you a crucial opportunity to review the identified issues and provide feedback to the Department.

This will help with the development of effective measures to manage and protect Northern Ireland’s water resources.

Supporting Documents for the Significant Water Management Issues Consultation webpage

NIEA Water Information Request Viewer

NIEA Catchment Data Map Viewer