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The environmental catastrophe can be seen from space. Satellite images show how Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh - the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles – has been consumed by a thick blue-green sludge. Vast blooms of toxic algae have spread around the 100 miles or so of its shoreline, into its delicate reedbeds and deep through its waters. Triggered by a combination of sewage, agricultural pollution and climate change, it's devastating fish and bird populations, is dangerous to dogs and has led to a wholesale bathing ban. Despite the fact the algae can cause illness in humans, Lough Neagh continues to provide nearly half of Northern Ireland’s drinking water.

County Tyrone born author Nick Laird grew up near the shores of Lough Neagh and fished the rivers which flow into it as a boy. Now Nick is going back to meet some of the men and women living with the impact of this crisis, as well as those trying to do something about it. Sand dredged from the lough was used to build Stormont, Northern Ireland’s parliament building in 1932. The Stormont devolved government has been collapsed for the last 18 months, due to the DUP’s ongoing protest over the post-Brexit trade protocol. With the ecological collapse of a body of water central to the history, economy and public health of Northern Ireland, Nick Laird asks if what's happened to Lough Neagh is a consequence of political stagnation.

Producer: Conor Garrett