A total of £800,000 has been awarded by the UK’s Space Agency to develop a remote sensor that predicts, detects and monitors blue-green algae.

An alarm bell was sounded over the state of waste water infrastructure in Northern Ireland and the impact on waterways.

A competition has been launched to find solutions to predict, detect and monitor the extent and movement of the noxious blooms on the lough.

Noxious blooms covered large parts of Lough Neagh last summer, and also affected other waterways and beaches in the region.

The head of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency said there was no quick fix to the problem, which is impacting Lough Neagh.