Armagh man fined for pollution offence

A Co Armagh farmer was today fined £300 plus £74 court costs, £132.74 analysis costs and staff costs of £500 at Armagh Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Damien McParland, Seagahan Road, Armagh, was fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 24 October 2007, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) inspected a tributary of the Butterwater River and found a heavy fungal growth on the bed of the waterway.

The source of the polluting discharge was traced to a farm owned by Mr McParland.

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:

1. Mr McParland 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.
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