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1 week ago | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
A key Northern Ireland (NI) spending watchdog has warned Stormont that publicly owned NI Water urgently needs a new funding model or risks falling further behind its peers in service quality and environmental standards. Chronic underinvestment in wastewater infrastructure is also constraining economic development, according to the NI Fiscal Council, particularly in areas requiring commercial and residential growth.
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1 month ago | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
Seventeen river catchments in Scotland are now at Alert level for water scarcity, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). These are: Conon, Spey, Deveron, Ythan, Don (Aberdeenshire), Dee (Aberdeenshire), Esk, Firth of Tay, Firth of Forth, Almond, Tyne (Lothian), Tweed, Esk (Dumfriesshire), Annan, Thurso, Shin and Naver. SEPA highlighted that the water scarcity level across the east of Scotland was particularly serious, with pressure on rivers building fast.
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1 month ago | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne |Karma Loveday
SDLP Member of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland, Patsy McGlone, last week called on the executive to commence an independent review of Northern Ireland Water’s funding and governance by September 2026. He cited in particular the state of the wastewater network and the block it is causing to economic development.
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2 months ago | 
acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Brigid Lynch |Julie Bassett |Roger Milne |Alpa Patel
Corresponding Author Brigid M. Lynch PhD Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Physical Activity Laboratory, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Correspondence Brigid M. Lynch, Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, Level 8, 200 Victoria Parade East, Melbourne 3002, Victoria, Australia.
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2 months ago | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
MPs on a UK parliamentary committee have recommended that the Northern Ireland Executive should reconsider introducing domestic water charges. Such a move could go some way to offset publicly-owned NI Water’s chronic underfunding of creaking wastewater infrastructure. However, such a measure is currently beyond the pale politically.
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Mar 30, 2025 | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
The Northern Ireland Government has announced it is calling in forensic accountants to investigate why NI Water has gone into the red. The decision by infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins comes after the publicly owned company informed her department of an estimated overspend of about £3m. At one point, the excess was nearer £5m. The accountants are expected to report within about six weeks. Kimmins’ department has responsibility for water policy and the company.
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Feb 13, 2025 | 
acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Brigid Lynch |Julie Bassett |Roger Milne |Alpa Patel
INTRODUCTION Most studies that have estimated the burden of cancer attributable to physical inactivity have been guided by World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research risk factor grading criteria from their Third Expert Report.1 For example, the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Cancer Risk Factor Collaborators used these criteria, and estimated the cancer disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to breast and colorectal cancer around the world.
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Feb 9, 2025 | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
Northern Ireland’s newly installed Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins, has stressed that improving the region’s creaking wastewater infrastructure is a priority. She acknowledged the cost would be eye watering. “Improving our sewerage systems will be a huge exercise, costing billions and taking decades,” she stated. She is, however, expected to toe the line and maintain Sinn Féin’s opposition to domestic water charging.
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Feb 2, 2025 | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
A consortium led by Northern Ireland Water and power company, Mutual Energy, is examining the feasibility of building what would be the region’s first pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) scheme in County Antrim. In conventional PHES designs, surplus electricity is used to pump water from a lower reservoir to a higher one during periods of low prices to be released downhill, powering turbines to generate electricity at times of greater demand.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne
Northern Ireland Water workers who are members of the Unite union have suspended strike action due to start on December 10, after a pay award was approved at the eleventh hour by Stormont ministers. Employees at publicly-owned Northern Ireland Water are now to receive a 5% pay increase and a one-off payment of £1,500, following initial approval by infrastructure minister, John O’Dowd.
