NI Water has confirmed that its 1.4 billion pounds Living With Water programme is “no longer achievable” within its original 12-year timeline.

The initiative, deemed essential by NI Water’s chief executive Sara Venning, was designed to secure Belfast’s long-term wastewater needs, reduce flooding risks, and minimise environmental damage from untreated sewage.

However, “significant funding challenges” have stalled major projects, including replacing the north’s largest wastewater pumping station at Sydenham and upgrading treatment works across the city.

In a letter to residents in east Belfast, NI Water cited a review by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), which concluded that while the need for the programme remains, it cannot be completed as initially planned. “Delivery of the Belfast plan is no longer being taken forward through a formal programme but will instead be progressed by individual partners, such as NI Water, and delivered as normal business “at the scale and pace achievable within available budgets”, the letter states.

DfI has advised NI Water to plan based on a “constrained capital funding budget until 2033”, but the company warns this budget represents a “significant shortfall” compared to Utility Regulator recommendations.

Alliance MLA and infrastructure spokesperson Peter McReynolds called the delay “another example of the crisis being allowed to develop at NI Water”. He criticised the short-term approach, pointing to issues such as burst sewage pipes in Newtownabbey last summer and ongoing pollution in Belfast Lough. “NI Water is a contributor to the environmental damage in Lough Neagh as its infrastructure is outdated and unable to cope”, he said.

McReynolds argued for mutualising NI Water, stating, “No other country funds water as we do because it cannot address the major complexities involved in delivering water infrastructure”. He believes community ownership would allow borrowing for urgent improvements.

Despite financial pressures, outgoing infrastructure minister John O’Dowd emphasised his commitment to the issue, stating, “This year, I allocated almost half a billion pounds to NI Water to address issues with our ageing infrastructure and unlock housing challenges”.