Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir has announced an allocation of more than £380,000 to back 16 water quality projects across Northern Ireland, including 11 located within the Lough Neagh catchment.

The selected initiatives are financed via the Water Quality Improvement Strand of the Environment Fund, following an open competition held earlier this year. This latest round of funding builds upon the achievements of the 2025/26 cycle, which distributed £347,000 to enhance regional water quality. The 16 chosen projects will facilitate a diverse array of actions aimed at conserving and restoring aquatic habitats, connecting the public to their local water environments, and advancing nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Minister Muir said: "After such a successful outing last year, I am delighted to again deliver this funding to councils and non-profit organisations to empower them to undertake projects that improve our water quality.

"The Water Quality Improvement Strand value lies in connecting people to our loughs, lakes and waterways and encouraging them to play their part in caring for our water environment. Last year, over 700 volunteers and over 3,000 school pupils took part in projects that saw 5.25 tonnes of litter collected, 1,350 trees planted and 1,450 metres of riparian strip installed, among a range of other environmental benefits. I think that is amazing and I applaud all those who took part and delivered these projects.

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"I have no doubt that this year's projects will be just as worthwhile and I look forward to seeing them delivering on the ground in the Lough Neagh catchment and across Northern Ireland."

The initiatives chosen for the 2026/27 period are slated to deliver various valuable activities, including invertebrate sampling, drone and habitat surveying, and the mapping of invasive species. Furthermore, the financial support will aid educational schemes designed to elevate environmental awareness and prompt positive habits among primary and post-primary school students.

Other scheduled operations involve improving spawning habitats for protected species, promoting citizen science, managing litter picks, hosting water quality summer schemes, putting up fencing, installing log wall revetments, building leaky dams, running community workshops, and delivering water awareness guidance to the farming sector.

During the previous 2025/26 funding term, 16 completed projects achieved the following outcomes:

• 84 km of river surveyed across 7 projects.

• 5.25 tonnes of litter removed from the environment.

• 72 volunteer events hosted, focused on litter removal, outfall safaris, water quality workshops, river clean-ups, and invasive species removal.

• 723 volunteers engaged across the 16 projects.

• 241 members of the public/organisations trained in modules including catchment management, invasive species, identifying outfalls and riverfly sampling.

• 31 outfalls identified and mapped across 177 km of river.

• 1,450 m fencing installed, preventing cattle from entering waterways.

• 6 leaky dams installed, aiming to slow the flow during high-level events.

• 500 m of log wall revetment installed across 3 projects.

• 1,350 trees planted.

• 3,114 school children engaged, which included assemblies, volunteer days and water quality-focused workshops both in schools and at the River Torrent, where classes learnt how to identify indicators of good water quality, and measure width, depth and flow of the river.

• 23 interpretive panels installed, raising awareness of water quality issues in the local area.

• 4 public webinars on water quality pressures and solutions, with a total of 77 attendees across the webinar series.

• 1,450 m of riparian strip installed alongside 2 livestock drinkers.

• farm advisors trained on water quality awareness.

• A water Awareness course developed for farmers with a guidance booklet and video.

Additional information on the Water Quality Improvement Strand alongside updates regarding upcoming funding rounds can be accessed via the official website at www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/environment-fund-water-quality-improvement-strand. The webpage is updated on an annual basis in line with budget allocations and funding availability.