A Lisburn farmer was fined £300 plus costs at Lisburn Magistrates Court today for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.
Mr Hercules Leathem from Lisburn pleaded guilty to the offence.
On 22 August 2007, an Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) official found that an unnamed tributary of the River Lagan was badly polluted with slurry.
Samples confirmed that the effluent coming from the farm contained polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.
Notes to Editors:
- Mr Hercules Leathem was charged under Article 7 of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 of making a polluting discharge to a waterway.
- Mr Leathem’s defence stated that an employee had been pumping slurry and that one of the joints in the hose had become detached causing the slurry to enter an open ditch and discharge to the nearby waterway.
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