Cookstown farmer fined for polluting discharge to a waterway

A Co Tyrone farmer was fined £200 plus £25 court costs at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court today.

Derek Allen of Drum Road, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, was fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 13 February 2008, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) observed a waterway within Drum Manor Forest Park had a fungal growth on the bed. The source of the polluting discharge was traced to a farm owned by Mr Allen.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious and polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to fish life in a receiving watercourse.

Notes to Editors:

1. Mr Allen was charged under Article 7 (1) (a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 with the offence of making a polluting discharge to a waterway, namely an unnamed tributary of the River Bann.
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