Bangor rejoices as Ballyholme Bay, Northern Ireland's most pollution-hit beach, finally clears test
Ballyholme Bay has long proved the most difficult of Northern Ireland’s beaches to get to a clean condition.
The Bangor beauty spot is enormously popular with sun-seeking locals and day-trippers every summer, but regularly struggles to hit minimum water quality standards.
Years ago it used to fail because of sewage discharge, which cleared up after NI Water carried out a multimillion-pound overhaul of its system around that part of the coastline.
But pollution problems persist, thought to be due to agricultural runoff from farms in the countryside around Bangor.
During rainstorms, it’s theorised, runoff enters a river that flows into the bay – but officials have had problems tracking down the source of the issue.
Ballyholme failed water quality tests in 2022 and 2023, and in both years was the only beach in the province not to pass.
In summer last year, it even had to be shut down after bacteria levels skyrocketed in a serious pollution incident.
The beach lies in the North Down constituency of DAERA minister Andrew Muir, who registered his delight that Ballyholme finally made the grade while adding that studies currently taking place in the area should hopefully get to the bottom of its recurring problems.
"My department has been working collaboratively with NI Water and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute to get to the bottom of the problem at Ballyholme beach,” he said.
"It is still early days in understanding if the issues have been fully resolved, as the investigative study is still continuing. However, it is encouraging to see the commitment of all working together to solve problems.”