A L'Derry firm has been fined for a pollution offence.

Greenan Generation Ltd was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay a £15 Offender Levy at Londonderry Magistrates' Court for discharge to a waterway.

A Water Quality Inspector (WQI), acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), responded to a report of pollution and inspected a tributary of the River Faughan on the Carnmoney Road, Eglinton and observed the bed of the waterway to be covered in fresh fungus. The WQI entered the lane at the Greenan Generation Ltd yard and observed water entering a grating at the end of the lane. A smell of silage effluent was detected.

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The WQI checked the drain at the inspection point closest to the yard and detected the smell of silage effluent from the water flowing through this point.

A sample taken confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.

A dye test confirmed the discharge from the inspection point where the sample had been collected was making its way to the waterway.

On 21 October 2015, the WQI re-visited the site and inspected the waterway and there was a strong smell of silage effluent from the water and fungus was observed on the bed of the waterway.

(CD)