A Co Tyrone farmer has been fined £250 for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

Mr Ivan Jobb from Fintona was also ordered to pay an offenders levy of £15 at Omagh Magistrates Court.

On 5 June 2014, Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs), acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), entered a farm on the Ballynahatty Road, Omagh and observed silage effluent flowing across the farm yard to a grass verge. The WQIs identified a manhole and observed silage in the drain and effluent was discharging via the inlet pipe. Having walked the line of the pipe, the effluent was observed discharging into the waterway. The farm was owned by Mr Jobb. After some discussion Mr Jobb ordered the WQIs off his farm. The length of waterway impacted by the discharge was in excess of 1400 metres.

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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.

(CD/MH)