Loch Neagh, Northern Iron

[Bald Rick]

I think it was once on HIGNFY or something similar that after a bit of usual type banter somebody said, "I think they're just taking the p!ss out of London".

To which someone else replied, "I wish they would, it would save it all ending up in the Thames!"

When my sister worked for Thames Water briefly back in the 80s, she was told that 30t of London dog sh!t went in to the river daily. I suspect it’s a bit less now but one can understand the lyrics of Waterloo Sunset

 

[dave78+]

We have green veg in our canals. Below is a little bit of the Lea Navigation at Enfield but there are many miles of canal covered with the floating algae. We see it every year.

 

[nivilla1982]

Earl of Shaftesbury open to Lough Neagh sale but won't give it away

Campaigners say pollution is killing the lake, with wildlife suffering after blue-green algal blooms.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[yoki]

I have still to read anywhere how the lough bed changing hands, if it were to happen, will make any difference to the current problems.

The Earl has no jurisdiction over the water flowing in, out, or contained within the lough, so how is it going to make a difference if he sells it? Which, as an aside, apparently he offered to do a number of years ago, price agreed, and civil servants recommended against it!

Seems the ownership is one of these things that the media latch on to, and then continually trot out every time the subject comes up, without actually giving any reason for it's significance.

 

[Boohoo]

I have still to read anywhere how the lough bed changing hands, if it were to happen, will make any difference to the current problems.

The Earl has no jurisdiction over the water flowing in, out, or contained within the lough, so how is it going to make a difference if he sells it? Which, as an aside, apparently he offered to do a number of years ago, price agreed, and civil servants recommended against it!

Seems the ownership is one of these things that the media latch on to, and then continually trot out every time the subject comes up, without actually giving any reason for it's significance.

The theory is that dredging for sand is releasing phosphate stored in the bed of the lough. Stop the dredging and you reduce the phosphate levels in the water.

 

[yoki]

The theory is that dredging for sand is releasing phosphate stored in the bed of the lough. Stop the dredging and you reduce the phosphate levels in the water.

Given the importance of the sand for the construction industry here, plus the fact that arguably dredging the lough is preventing it silting up, and that the dredging has been ongoing for many decades therefore not a new factor, surely they'd need to be acting on something a bit more substantial than a theory (one of many!) before stopping the sand dredging.

Irrespective of who owned the lough bed.

 

[dave78+]

The theory is that dredging for sand is releasing phosphate stored in the bed of the lough. Stop the dredging and you reduce the phosphate levels in the water.

More likely than not. The sand is at depth in very cold waters. Disturbance brings phosphates up to surface water that is subjected to the intense heat of the Sun.

 

[Boohoo]

Given the importance of the sand for the construction industry here, plus the fact that arguably dredging the lough is preventing it silting up, and that the dredging has been ongoing for many decades therefore not a new factor, surely they'd need to be acting on something a bit more substantial than a theory (one of many!) before stopping the sand dredging.

Irrespective of who owned the lough bed.

The solution to every other environmental problem is to export it and import what we need, I'm sure someone will suggest the same solution for the sand and the construction industry that relies on it.

 

[yoki]

The solution to every other environmental problem is to export it and import what we need, I'm sure someone will suggest the same solution for the sand and the construction industry that relies on it.

Presumably all the people shouting for the dredging to stop live in houses made of wattle and daub or such like.

Or never go to shopping centres, use multi-storey carparks, attend a sports stadium, use a local airport, etc, etc

I mean they wouldn't be silly and hypocritical enough to call for an end to something which they've contributed to themselves would they!

 

[dave78+]

Presumably all the people shouting for the dredging to stop live in houses made of wattle and daub or such like.

Or never go to shopping centres, use multi-storey carparks, attend a sports stadium, use a local airport, etc, etc

I mean they wouldn't be silly and hypocritical enough to call for an end to something which they've contributed to themselves would they!

Sand comes from umpteen other pits in Northern Ireland.

 

[yoki]

Sand comes from umpteen other pits in Northern Ireland.

Pit sand is nothing like Lough Neagh sand.

Plus it actually comes at a higher environmental cost, both in mechanisation and in spoil.

 

[Boohoo]

Presumably all the people shouting for the dredging to stop live in houses made of wattle and daub or such like.

Or never go to shopping centres, use multi-storey carparks, attend a sports stadium, use a local airport, etc, etc

I mean they wouldn't be silly and hypocritical enough to call for an end to something which they've contributed to themselves would they!

Sand comes from B&Q in the same way as milk comes from Tesco...