Northern Ireland's bathing water classification results revealed

DAERA Minister Andrew Muir has announced the 2025 bathing water classification results. 

Following the expansion of the programme in May, with the incorporation of seven new sites, there are now a total of 33 identified sites. The classifications at these sites are based on the bacteriological standards and for our sites; 24 met the ‘excellent’ standards, a further five met the ‘Good’ standards, three are ‘Sufficient’ and only one bathing water failed to meet the minimum standard.

In County Derry, Castlerock, Downhill, Benone and Portstewart met the excellent standard.

Announcing the results Minister Muir said: “I am glad to see many sites meeting the excellent standard but acknowledge there is still a lot more to do to improve water quality and achieve consistency and excellent performance across all sites. We have all seen the devastating scenes at Lough Neagh.  I am therefore disappointed but sadly not surprised that Rea’s Wood in Lough Neagh failed to meet the minimum standards. The site was plagued with blue green algae for the third season and unfortunately there has been ‘advice against bathing’ at the site since July.”

In pointing out the wider implications of blue green algae, Muir said: “It is really concerning that the blue green algae in Lough Neagh has on occasions spread to our North Coast during the last three seasons. As recently as last week at Portstewart, my officials have had to issue ‘advice against bathing.’  I am glad to be able to announce that we have been able to lift the ‘advice against bathing’ at both Portstewart and Rea’s Wood.  I want to thank our Bathing Water Operator partners who have worked with us in getting the messages out to the public quickly and consistently throughout the season."

The Minister also expressed his satisfaction in seeing an upgrade in class at three sites, including Ballyholme, which has underperformed for many years.

 “It is encouraging to see that three sites have improved in classification this year: at Brompton, Cushendall and Ballyholme.  At the first two sites, this improvement may be due to the increase in data available, but Ballyholme has been classified as ‘Good’ for the first time since this system was introduced in 2015,” he said.

The Minister also emphasised his ongoing commitment to this work saying: “I am committed to continuing to work with agencies and local councils in improving both water quality and the information and advice that we offer to the public through the Better Beaches Forum led by my officials.”

DAERA has also introduced a new interactive Bathing Water Quality Dashboard enabling the public to make more informed decisions about where and when to swim across Northern Ireland’s 33 bathing waters.  The dashboard highlighted the water quality at each site via an interactive map and is available to fully explore at DAERA.

“I am also about to launch a new Bathing Water Review and I want to seek the views of all stakeholders in how we further improve the advice my Department can give around water quality issues,” the Minister concluded.

The 2025 results for the 33 Identified Bathing Waters are as follows:

Excellent Quality: Ballycastle, Ballygally, Ballyhornan, Brown’s Bay, Carnlough, Castlerock, Cloughey, Cranfield, Crawfordsburn, Cushendall, Groomsport, Helen’s Bay, Kilclief, Magilligan Benone, Magilligan Downhill, Millisle, Murlough, Portballintrae Salmon Rock, Portmuck, Portrush Curran, Portrush Mill, Portrush Whiterocks, Portstewart and Tyrella.

Good Quality: Ballyholme, Ballywalter, Brompton, Drain’s Bay and Waterfoot.

Sufficient Quality: Donaghadee, Newcastle and Warrenpoint.

Poor Quality: Rea’s Wood.

The 2025 Bathing Water Compliance results are available at: DAERA and NI Direct