Cookstown farmer fined £1,000 for polluting tributary of Lough Neagh

Michael Donnelly, aged 45, from Drumenny Road, Cookstown, admitted discharging a polluting matter so that it entered the Curran Drain, Ardboe, on March 11 last year.

Prosecuting counsel said Water Quality Inspectors from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency responded to a report of 1,000 dead fry being found in the drain.

The riverbed was found to be heavily coated with grey-coloured sewage fungus. An agricultural odour was present, and bloodworms, an indicator of poor water quality, were visible in the affected area.

He said inspectors traced the pollution upstream for a distance of approximately 2.7 kilometres, demonstrating significant environmental harm, to the Drumenny Road.

The prosecutor said on the farm, the inspectors examined silage clamps and silage effluent collection and storage facilities. A significant volume of maize silage effluent was observed flowing to a collection chamber. The adjacent effluent storage tank was observed to be full and overflowing.

As part of the investigation, inspectors collected a statutory sample of the maize silage effluent for analysis. The sample results confirmed the presence of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in the receiving waterway.

A defence lawyer explained that the defendant took immediate remedial measures, including emptying the storage tank.

He said a further inspection found there had been significant improvement in water quality.

District Judge Francis Rafferty described it as “an isolated lapse” and he accepted Donnelly was not a habitual polluter.