Northern Ireland Water (NIW) was fined £2,500 plus court costs of £28 at Downpatrick Magistrates Court.

NIW pleaded guilty to making a polluting discharge to a waterway from Burren Sewage Pumping Station (SPS), Newcastle, Co Down.

On 24 May 2011, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, inspected the Burren River adjacent to the Burren SPS, Marguerite Avenue, Newcastle, and observed that the waterway was running cloudy at, and downstream of, the SPS. Sewage related debris was also present. It was subsequently determined that untreated sewage had been discharging from the SPS for a period of some 31 hours.

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This high severity pollution incident resulted in a major fishkill downstream of the SPS in the Burren and Shimna Rivers. These are high importance fishery and nursery habitats for salmon and sea trout. Both rivers flow through high amenity value public park areas in central Newcastle. Approximately 400 metres downstream of its confluence with the Burren River, the Shimna River discharges onto Newcastle beach.

(CD/GK)