The Most DISGUSTING BEACH In Northern Ireland (Hidden for 50 years)

let's get diing and see what we find in

here

oh

oh this is not

[Music]

seaweed this is a story with three parts

one prob the most disgusting beach in

Northern Ireland remained hidden in

plain sight for 50 years just 10 m from

a public foot path to H justy succulent

muscles consumed in cafes and

restaurants in Europe are actually the

last line of defense to an ecological

disaster right here and thirdly the

uncomfortable truth about how this was

allowed to happen in the first place and

unlike the video I made about the loch n

algae crisis this is not actually a

story with any great mystery all parts

of it have been well documented plans

have been put in place and honestly that

just makes it so much worse that this

has been a lot to happen and we're going

to start with this beach here on the

edge of Belfast lock and Belfast lock is

a place that is enjoyed by people

boating people swimming people paddle

boarding people fishing and you'll often

see families playing on beaches and I'm

at this beach today because of a tip off

from an environmental activist who saw

my video about Loch and they directed me

to a report it's a report on the ni

water website a report that was not easy

to find it's kind of hidden it's kind of

buried and to be honest I completely

understand why it is called the story of

Belfast lock and its contents are

absolutely horrifying so if you want to

get the full details go and read that

report but in this video I'm going to

talk about the things that horrified me

the most and the first thing is this

beach this is a beach that I have run

past cycle past many times in the past

especially when I was a student it's a

beach that's right beside the Belfast

lockshore path it's kind of a green way

that goes all the way from White Abbey

down to lisburn and I've been told that

I should come here and dig and that is

exactly what I'm going to

do so let's go

dig and see what we can

find Which Way tightness on that

way I've got the rubber gloves on I have

an idea of what I might find here and I

did not want to touch it with my bare

hands but really quickly I noticed this

look looks like a piece of cloth

sticking out the

beach there's another

one there's another one there's another

one so let's let's get zing and see what

we find in

here

oh oh

do you know what this is oh it's heav

it this is not

seaweed it looks almost like a mop head

but this is a

disgusting matted mess and mixture of

wet wipes that have been flushed down

the sewage system and for some reason

have ended up on this beach and what's

worse is that this oh I got it my coat

what's worse is that this is not the

only disgusting thing on this beach so

uh let's go for the world's worst

treasure

[Music]

hunt there is a very weird smell on this

beach which I will reveal the source of

it in just a minute but yeah let's see

what kind of stuff we can find lying

around I'll start D here down near the

water immediately

sanitary pads right among the seaweed

here that's more wet wipes there's

another one sanitary pads sanitary pad

sanitary pads more wet wipe another

sanitary pad sanitary pad sanitary pad

and wet wipes combined

combo I have no idea what that is but at

least it's not another sanitary pad we

got a dummy this is what's done at the

water level let's go up and take a look

up among the rocks over here and see

what we can see because lighter objects

will float and the waves will wash them

further up the beach if you look around

here you can see why families would want

to come to this beach now up there

there's a gate blocking access to this

beach and people have broken it down

because they probably thinking why would

you not let us have access to such a

beautiful location but they've got no

idea no idea what's down here another

mass of wet wipes wow look how big that

is goes all the way right around in

there there's more in there there's more

there this is beyond disgusting here

what's that some kind of medical

product that's the plastic stick out of

a cotton bud there's a sary

pad tampon applicator sanitary pad wet

wipe I don't think I've ever said

sanitary pad so many times in my

life sanitary pad another

applicator

uh what let's walk back down the

beach

oh I slipped and smacked my shin off

that rock oh just to warn you just to

warn it in case you were planning to

come here and do your own treasure

hunt those rocks are slippy jackpot

what's this is it a PA of Cs it is a

pair of Cs lovely let's go and have a

conversation with why this has happened

and it will horrify you especially if

you live near

here all right I need to remember to not

eat anything or touch my mouth until I

get home properly wash my

hands let's go back and investigate that

smell it smells a little bit like if you

washed your clothes and then didn't dry

them properly and they went Ste and that

is because that smell is coming from

here that pipe was put there as a

temporary solution a temporary solution

in

1977 it's even shown on maps from 1977

plans from 1977 as a temporary solution

it should be a way out there somewhere

but no it's right here on the edge of

the shore the existence of that pipe is

actually illegal it's in violation of

environmental legislation I really do

not want to fall in there because in

2023 that pipe spilled raw sewage over

250 times into Belfast lock and if

that's not enough to put you off your

lunch this really will you if you come

down here you'll quite often see ducks

and seabirds swimming just in there just

near that outlet and the reason they're

waiting for the undigested sweet corn

and other bits of edible stuff that

floats out of that pipe and what's

horrifying and

disgusting that's not the only pipe

there are about

2 70 similar pipes in the greater

Belfast area the majority of which

regularly spill sewage and pollute

Belfast lock and the reason I know this

the reason I know this is because

Environmental campaigners fought for

that information to be made public and

it is you can go to the ni water website

and there's a page on there it shows you

a map and on that map it shows you all

the different sewage outlets in fact you

can see it for all of Northern Ireland

there's literally thousands of these and

for many of them you can click on them

and it will tell you exactly how many

times they spilled sewage in the

previous year so might be worth checking

that out if you find a new wild swimming

spot and wonder if the water's likely to

be clean or not but a few years ago ni

water decided to do something about this

beach they brought an excavator in and

they started digging and they dug and

they dug by the time they stopped they

had removed 100 tons 100 tons of wet

wipes Sandry pads and continents pads

condoms and other kinds of waste from

this beach and they didn't stop because

they'd removed all the waste they had to

stop because there's so much waste on

this beach that they were beginning to

change the shape of the landscape there

is so much non-biodegradable sewage

waste here that it's not a structural

part of this fairy

[Music]

[Applause]

Beach I've walked out onto the

shells further out from the beach

and the smell of surge here is actually

worse than it was back up at the pipe I

think that's maybe because we had a

storm over the last few days and this is

when you're most likely to see this that

is raw Sue I know it's raw sewage

because it smells like poo and if you

look at it close up in the water you can

see the fibers of the toilet roll and

not too far in that distance about maybe

a kilometer or so are the vast muscle

beds the muscle Farms of Belfast now

these muscles aren't mostly naturally

occurring they're put there by the

shellfish industry and you'll be pleased

to know that they're mostly exported to

countries in Europe um and some of them

are even Frozen and sent to the USA in a

sauce and speaking of sauce muscles from

Belfast lock have got an endless supply

of chy nuggets and bacteria filled lumps

floating past them as they sit out in

the lock they're very wellfed indeed a

little gift to them from the good people

of Belfast every time they flush the

toilet on on a rainy day and we'll get

to that in just a minute now the gross

truth is that

muscles are filter feeders they remove

filth and nutrients and water they make

the water clean and they convert that

filth into nice succulent flesh that

people can eat and the nutrients that

muscles eat can come from sewage sewage

is full of nutrients so much in fact

that we used to spread it on our fields

to grow crops and that's not a problem

in itself the muscles eat it they filter

it and they make it safe filter feeders

like muscles and other shellfish form an

essential role in a healthy ecosystem

now here's the thing that's both

interesting and gross there are a lot

more muscles in Belfast lock than there

would be naturally and it's actually now

thought that the muscle Farms of Belfast

lock are the last line of defense to the

lock becoming completely polluted

because the muscles are gobbling up as

well I Dro I'm not picking that up again

it just landed in some poop

because the muscles are gobbling up that

sewage as it comes out and are actually

helping to keep the levels of pollution

down but there's a problem because the

sewage levels are starting to overwhelm

the muscle beds and one by one the

muscle beds of Belfast lock their

classification is getting lower testing

is showing an increase in the levels of

ecoli and shellfish and also the

presence of analgate that can actually

kill muscles so what this means is as

the levels of pollution from sewage

increase it means that more and more

muscles are going to need special

treatment to make them safe before they

can be sold this then makes muscle

farming not profitable which means that

eventually the muscle Farms here are

going to decline they're going to

disappear once the muscles go the

pollution from the sewage is just going

to spiral and Belfast lock could well

end up like Lo now so it is true to say

that people sitting in the cafes and

restaurants of Europe munching their way

through Northern Irish muscles are

literally helping keep Belfast lock

healthy

[Music]

so originally a long time ago the suit

system in Belfast was pretty simple

water that fell as rain was combined

with the household waste went into the

same sir and then that mixture was

flushed into rivers that emptied into

Belfast lock or it went through pipes

that went directly into the lock and for

a while that actually worked nature

played its role it broke down the Surge

and things were okay but then the potion

began to build up as populations

increased smells began to appear people

began to get sick and so they realized

well this isn't good enough and then

wastewater treatment works were built to

handle this to treat the waste to make

it safe before then that treated water

would be put into the rivers or the lock

and over many decades there were

multiple rounds of investment and

Improvement in those systems but the

problem was that they only ever upgraded

them to the minimum possible standard so

now we have the cation

today where the sewage system for

greater Belfast and Northern Ireland as

a whole isn't fit for purpose more than

half of the networks in Belfast and the

treatment works are at capacity that is

stopping the building of new housing

developments and other things from going

ahead but the worst thing that it means

is it means that every time just about

every single time there is heavy rain

that produces a mixed volume of rain

water and sewage in the one system the

wastewater treatment works can't deal

with it and so the Surplus is simply

dumped directly into the rivers or

directly into Belfast lock in some areas

in Belfast the system is so outdated

that sometimes during storms the system

can block that's often caused by fat

burgs created by a combination of those

wet wipes you saw earlier combined with

like cooking grease that's been flushed

down the sink they block and then raw

sewage backs up into people's

homes this is Sea Park B Beach it's on

the other side of Belfast lock from that

first Beach we were at and this is quite

a nice Beach it's quite big it's Sandy

it's right beside a residential area

people walk their dogs here go for runs

and in the summer you'll sometimes see

kids playing in the sand digging in the

sand making sand castles and even

sometimes going into the sea

itself but last year there were

70,000 L of sewage discharged onto this

beach and if you look closely enough you

can once again find those telltale signs

of non-biodegradable sewage waste it's

also not very much not an area that's

designated safe for swimming and there

signs up warning not to harvest

shellfish here because they're not safe

because of sewage pollution and this

place is kind of a little bit of a

warning of what's potentially coming for

every single Beach and every single

potential swim spot in Belfast lock as

the pollution increased

more and more places are going become

off limits for swimming and for human

activities cuz they just not going to be

safe because of the pollution and the

lock itself the lock itself is at risk

of dying the cost to make the necessary

upgrades just to the sewage Network in

Greater Belfast alone is2 billion but

but that is relying on the muscle

industry not being destroyed first if

the muscle industry gets killed off the

muscles go and that last buyer to the

sewage disappears it'll C cost a lot

more than that it's crazy to think how

much the muscles are actually

[Applause]

[Music]

helping since I started making this

video there has been an interesting

development because after that report

setting for weeks the BBC have finally

picked it up and in a couple of days

they're going to be publishing a report

on it a BBC Spotlight episode in which

they claim they're going to reveal who

is actually responsible for this but the

thing thing is a massive part of the

problem is that Northern Ireland is a

place with terrible public finances

despite the fact that we've got loads of

great businesses here punching above

their weight the fact remains that our

politicians still need to go groveling

cap in hand to Westminster for a handout

to keep us going that's never quite

enough it feels like everything is

underfunded here the Health Service

transport education it just isn't enough

money to go around when you're talking

about2 billion to upgrade a sir Network

where on Earth is that money going to

come from is Westminster going to dig

into its pockets and give us a bigger

handout Northern Ireland is actually the

only place in the UK where we don't play

Residential Water charges the average

household in England Scotland and Wales

pays

£450 about £450 per

year if they brought water charges

Residential Water charges to Northern AR

land that would be an extra at least

£300 million per year into the public

purse which over 6 and 1/2 years is2

billion now I'm very much aware that one

of the reasons we don't have water

charges here are because average wages

are much lower in Northern Ireland we're

disadvantaged in other ways so there is

a reason why water charges haven't been

brought in but we still kind of have

have to answer the question in that if

money can't be found somewhere else to

upgrade the SE system are we willing to

pay for it and that's kind of connected

it's the even bigger question that a lot

of people are thinking about at the

minute which is do we care about the

environment enough that we're willing to

get comfortable with having a slightly

less comfortable bank balance in order

to pay for it but I'm not entirely happy

with that

as being the answer surely there must be

a way that we can look after this world

that we have a duty to look after while

at the same time not making life harder

for other people there must be an answer

I'm not quite sure what it is but I do

know that the answer is definitely not

to do nothing actually one thing we

could all maybe just agree to do is to

stop flushing things down the toilet

that shouldn't be there because that

just puts more strain in the sewage

Network which costs even more

money a picked the worst day to do this

all right I've decided to finish this

video here at Loch n because it took the

Blu green algae crisis in the last two

summers for people to pay attention it

took a horrible physical visible smelly

disgusting disaster to happen before we

started to really think about how to

sort out the problems and Lock N so the

scary question for the people of Belfast

is will it take a horrible visible

disaster happening to Belfast lock

before people take notice is it going to

take it to turn green some somewhere all

the seabirds to Die the muscle beds to

disappear before that's taken seriously

and something's done about it or are the

people with the ability to actually

change things going to do it before that

happens we're going to have to wait and

find out hope you've enjoyed this little

uh little documentary video um if you

here for my lock night video apologies

that this wasn't as maybe in-depth or

comprehensive I just didn't have um

enough enough time to spend on it um

that and a lot of the issues around this

especially around the funding and the

way various organizations and the water

service and all these things are run

it's so confusing it's really

really it's really really difficult to

understand which possibly is one of the

reasons these things get overlooked I

find that the more complicated an issue

is

um the more complicated an issue is the

less people are likely to be interested

in it because you have to like learn so

much before you can have an informed

informed opinion but uh this is

something that politicians are currently

making decisions about and if it's

something that you care about I'll link

a few resources down in the description

thanks for watching and I'm getting out

of here cuz I am soaked