A farmer from Co Antrim has been fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

Samuel Brennan from Larne was convicted and fined £750 at Ballymena Magistrates' Court.

He was also ordered to pay an offender's levy of £15.

On 21 March 2016, a Senior Water Quality Inspector (SWQI), acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), inspected a waterway at Ballyboley Road, Larne and observed a heavy growth of sewage fungus together with a cloudy appearance in the waterway.

-- Advertisement --

The source of the polluting discharge was traced to the farm owned by the defendant. On the farm the SWQI discovered seepage of effluent which appeared to originate at a point adjacent to the rear wall of an earth-banked silo. This effluent was flowing towards and entering the waterway.

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/LM)