DNA-Led Project Targets Pollution Behind Lough Neagh’s Algae Crisis

The largest lake in the UK, Lough Neagh, once beautiful and clear, is now covered in blue and green algae blooms, a consequence of pollution from farm runoff, among other factors.

According to the Belfast News Letter, a new project to identify pollutants in Lough Neagh will launch next month.

Costing around £920,000, the project will use innovative DNA methods to identify pollution pathways, opting for these over more traditional approaches due to their ineffectiveness in finding contamination sources and in addressing microbial resistance.

Drones will be used underwater to collect samples of chemicals and microbes. The project will run over an 18-month period, assessing the damage and, hopefully, finding the scientific makeup of the lough's high pollution levels.

For more information on the project, please read the full release by the Belfast News Letter. Similarly, click here for further reading on the Lough Neagh Action Plan for insight into how the Northern Ireland government plans to manage pollution of the lough going forward.