A Co Armagh farmer pleaded guilty and was fined £500 plus court costs at Armagh Magistrates' Court today.

Damien McParland, of Ballymoran Road, Lisnadill, Armagh, Co Armagh, was fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 7 April 2011, a Water Quality Inspector,acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency observed an unnamed tributary of the Butter Water River to be grossly polluted due to the presence of heavy fungus growth. There was a black discolouration on the bed of the waterway and large amounts of bloodworm present. The source of the polluting discharge was traced to a farm owned by Mr McParland. The waterway was polluted for approx 1200m.

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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)