A 58-year-old farmer from Co. Antrim has been fined £1,250, and ordered to pay a £15 offender levy, for water pollution offences caused by silage effluent from his farm.
Patrick McNaughton of Loughguile, Ballymeena, pleaded guilty to offences brought against him at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on May 6.
The court heard that in December 2019, a senior water quality inspector, acting on behalf on the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), inspected the Killagan Water in Loughguile, and discovered an extensive covering of thick sewage fungus on the bed of the waterway.
The inspector traced the waterway upstream and entered an out-farm where he observed a covering of sewage fungus in the waterway which flowed alongside the farm
During further inspections, an open manhole chamber at the edge of the farmyard, close to the waterway, was also found. This chamber contained a steady flow of effluent, which appeared to be contaminated surface water and silage effluent from the silage clamp nearby, that was not being directed to the designated holding tank for this contaminated drainage.
In accordance with procedures, a tripartite statutory sample of the active discharge was collected and analysed and found to contain poisonous, noxious, or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.
The inspector added dye to the chamber and a short time later, the dye was noted entering the waterway from a pipe, confirming the link from the chamber on the farmyard to the receiving waterway.
Water pollution offences in Northern Ireland
On the same day last week, and at the same courthouse, a Co. Derry businesses man was also convicted for eight separate water pollution offences at his Anaerobic Digester (AD) site.
Norman Menary (68) also pleaded guilty, and was fined £10,000 and £15 (offender levy) for his offences, which occured in December 2018.
That month and year, inspectors responding to a report of water pollution, discovered and confirmed liquids entering the Lower River Bann. As one example of the streams of liquid on-site, an earth-banked silage clamp was oozing black liquid from both ends of the clamp.
