A court in Northern Ireland has fined a farmer for a water pollution offence arising from “farm effluent” being discharged into a river.
Hugh Allen of Drumahiskey Road, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim was convicted today (Friday, June 6) at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court for an offence under Article 7(1)(a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, as amended.
The 55-year-old had pleaded guilty and was fined £1,500 plus £15 offenders levy.
Court
The court heard that Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) water quality inspectors responded to a report of dead fish in the Ballymoney River on June 18, 2024.
The inspectors carried out their investigation in an upstream direction to where grey fungus was visible on the bed of the Ballymoney River.
The inspectors traced the polluting impact further upstream to a location where a concrete pipe was actively discharging farm effluent to the waterway.
As part of the investigation, a statutory sample of the discharge was collected and analysed.
The sample results indicated that the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.
On June 19, 2024, inspectors examined the silo area on the suspected farm.
A silage effluent collection channel was noted to have been blocked with grass and as a result silage effluent was discharging from the silage clamp into a piped drain before entering the Ballymoney River.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) advised anyone wishing to report a pollution incident to call the 24-hour NIEA Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
