A Co Fermanagh farmer pleaded guilty and was fined £5,000 at Enniskillen Magistrates' Court.

William Ritchie, of Cara Road, Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, was fined for making a polluting discharge to the Lackey River, a tributary of the Finn River, Upper Lough Erne.

On 15 June 2011, Water Quality Inspectors, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, observed farmyard effluent running down the Cara Road, Newtownbutler. The Inspectors traced the effluent to Mr Richie’s farm where it was observed that the farmyard effluent was overflowing from a storage tank, flowing down the road and entering into the road drain that discharged to the waterway.

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

(CD/GK)