Man fined £300 following silage leak into Magherafelt stream
A leak at the back of a cattle shed resulted in a stretch of the Polepatrick drain in Magherafelt becoming polluted with silage effluent, the local Magistrates Court was told on Wednesday.
Owen Bradley, aged 49, of Oldtown Road, Castledawson, was fined £300 and ordered to pay a £15 offender's levy for polluting a waterway on July 6, 2023.
The court heard that the pollution was reported to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency who traced it back to the defendant’s property at Station Road.
Prosecuting counsel said the effluent had turned the water grey and there was a fungus on the river bed.
Samples taken by the Agency showed the drain to have poor to bad quality water, she said.
A defence lawyer explained it had happened on a family farm which is not manned all the time.
He said the pollution was caused by a leak at the back of a cattle shed which the defendant “fixed very quickly.”