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NI Water (NIW) was fined £750 plus court costs of £31 at Craigavon Magistrates' Court this week for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.
As if the beleaguered quango hasn't enough problems with the fall-out from the Big Freeze and thaw 'shambles' it emerged in court that on 22 April 2009, water quality inspectors, acting on behalf of the NI Environment Agency, visited Ballynacor Waste Water Treatment Works and observed a dark coloured discharge flowing from a pipe towards the site boundary.
The waterway on one side of the boundary fence contained large amounts of black sludge.
The waterway on the other side of the fence was also visibly polluted and contained what appeared to be the same pollutant. The source of the polluting discharge was traced to the sludge dewatering plant operated by NIW.
A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.
(BMcC/GK)
