A farmer and contractor from L'Derry have been fined for a pollution offence.

Mr Hugh Sinton Curry and John Lyons, were fined £750 for causing a polluting discharge to enter a waterway.

They were also ordered to pay an offenders levy of £15.

Water Quality Inspectors, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, inspected a waterway at Cloyfin Road, Coleraine on 21 March 2014.

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They observed the waterway to be green in colour and an odour of an agricultural nature was detected from the water. The inspectors proceeded to cross fields where they discovered a large pipe actively discharging agricultural effluent to the unnamed waterway. Investigations revealed that the field had been spread with digestate from an anaerobic digester. The length of waterway impacted by the discharge was 1,300 metres.

Samples 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/LM)