Stephen Carson was convicted of making a polluting discharge to a waterway at Strabane Magistrates' Court.
He pleaded guilty and was fined £1,000 plus £15 Offenders Levy.
On 13 October 2016, Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs), acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), inspected a tributary of the River Derg at Tievenny Road, Ardstraw, and observed what appeared to be a milky white agricultural discharge flowing from an orange pvc pipe and entering the waterway.
-- Advertisement --
The inspectors walked upstream and at various points along the waterway pollution in the form of heavy fungal growth was observed. They entered a farm at Tievenny Road and were directed to speak with Mr Stephen Carson. Discussion was entered into about a recently constructed milking parlour in July 2016 and misconnected pipework being at fault. When offered one portion of the statutory sample Mr Stephen Carson declined. At a follow up visit on 22 November 2016 the milky discharge to the waterway was still occurring.
On a further visit on 09 December 2016 it was observed that pipework had been installed to take the effluent from the milking parlour to a slurry tank and no discharge to the waterway was noted. The discharge to the waterway visibly impacted it for a distance of some 670 metres.
A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.
(CD/MH)
