An environmental charity has said plans to stop treating wastewater before it is discharged into rivers and the seas is a "retrograde step" that threatens public health.
The Rivers Trust was responding to a Department for Infrastructure’s (DfI) policy proposal which aims to slash spending in the face of a 14 per cent reduction in its budget.
In an equality impact assessment published last week, DfI proposes a "cessation of NI Water’s provision [of] the wastewater pumping and treatment service", which could lead to savings of around £35 million.
It is among a series of potential cost-cutting measures which the department's document describes as "unpalatable".
A 2021 official report revealed that none of Northern Ireland's 496 rivers, lakes and coastal waters achieved a 'good overall status' rating for water quality.
Read more:
- Northern Ireland parties critical of ‘devastating' flat budget allocation
- Andrew Webb: Punishment budget is just the start of the pain
Rivers Trust Ireland director Mark Horton said the proposal was "unacceptable" and if implemented would result in "significant pollution and environmental degradation in Northern Ireland".
He said there was also the potential for it to cause "transboundary pollution" in the Republic.
"It is a false economy to take such a retrograde step," he said.
"It threatens to undo decades of work and investment that has already gone into cleaning up and trying to protect our freshwater and marine environments – it also risks our future ambitions for sustainable healthy growth and freshwater recovery."
Mr Horton highlighted how the department’s own assessment outlines how the proposed policy will have a negative impact on hospitals, health services, agrifoods, environmental services, and council services.
The Rivers Trust director said beyond the immediate negative impact on water quality, discharging unscreened sewage into rivers or the marine environment would see Northern Ireland breach of multiple international environmental conventions, leading to prosecutions against NI Water.
The Department of Infrastructure has been asked to comment.
