A Co. Tyrone farmer has been convicted and fined at Omagh Magistrates’ Court today (Monday, June 24) in relation to farm effluent pollution.
38-year-old David Kenwell of Killyliss Road, Fintona, pleaded guilty and was fined £1,000 with a £15 Offenders Levy for an offence under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, as amended.
The court heard that on August 2, 2022, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs) received a report of a farm effluent entering an unnamed tributary of the Owenreagh River.
When they visited the farm, the inspectors discovered that an unlined sump had been constructed from permeable gravel.
Court
The court was told that this construction was allowing silage effluent to escape and enter the waterway via a concrete pipe.
This pollution incident was classified as of medium severity where 1.5km of waterway was impacted by this discharge of silage effluent.
A tripartite statutory sample was collected from the discharge pipe and analysed.
The material represented by the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.
Anyone wishing to report a pollution incident can call the 24-hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said that it is an offence under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 to make a polluting discharge to a waterway and to make a discharge of trade or sewage effluent into a waterway.