Dale Farm pleaded guilty of making a polluting discharge to a waterway and was fined £750.
The firm also pleaded guilty to breaching a condition of its Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit and was fined £1500. The latter conviction related to a discharge of effluent not consented by the PPC Permit. Court costs of £43 were also awarded.
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On 26 June 2013, following a report made by a member of the public, Water Quality Inspectors, acting on behalf of Northern Ireland Environment Agency inspected the Lissan Water and an unnamed tributary thereof, observing milk processing waste in both waterways. The Inspectors traced the source of the pollution to two active discharges of milk processing waste from the effluent treatment plant serving Dale Farm Ltd facility at Dunmanbridge, Cookstown, Co Tyrone. Statutory samples were collected of both discharges, one from the permitted emission point from the effluent treatment plant and one from an unpermitted point to the rear of the plant.
The samples contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in the Lissan Water.
(CD/MH)
