A Co Tyrone farmer was yesterday fined £750 plus court costs of £25 and analysis costs of £132.74 for a pollution offence.
Colin Kelso, of Gortavale Road, Pomeroy, was fined at Dungannon Magistrates' Court for making a polluting discharge to a waterway, an unnamed tributary of the Ballinderry River.
On 20 August 2007, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formally the Environment and Heritage Service) inspected farm premises owned by Mr Kelso and observed a slurry lagoon at the rear of the farm discharging effluent through an overflow pipe to a waterway.
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 the receiving watercourse.
Notes to Editors
- Mr Kelso was charged under Article 7 (1) a of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
- For media enquiries please contact DOE Press Office 028 9054 0014 or out of office hours, contact the EIS Duty Press Officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
