Farmer fined €3,300 for water pollution offences that caused a fish kill
A judge has ordered a farmer to pay over for water pollution offences that caused a fish kill.
County Fermanagh farmer, Rodney Elliott (48), with an address at Druminiskill Road, Enniskillen, appeared before Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, April 13th, 2022.
Costs:
- Fine: £2,500;
- £15: Offenders’ levy;
- Fish kill costs: £267.50.
Fish kill
The court heard that on June 26th, 2018, a Senior Water Quality Inspector (SWQI) and Water Quality Inspector (WQI) colleague, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), responded to a report of slurry in a waterway close to Florencecourt.
The inspectors entered the farm premises. They discovered that slurry from the farm premises had flowed down the Druminiskill Road and entered a roadside drain that discharged to the nearby waterway.
Inland Fisheries colleagues conducted a fish kill survey, which they confined to the polluted tributary. They did not observe in main Arney River.
The court heard that on August 20th, 2018, inspectors responded to a further report of slurry in the Larganess River close to Florencecourt.
Slurry tank
On this occasion, the inspectors discovered a slurry tank was overflowing. The slurry was discharging to the waterway via roadside gullies. The court heard that no fish were killed as a result of this pollution incident.
Following procedures, a tripartite statutory sample of the active discharge was collected and analysed and found to contain poisonous, noxious, or polluting matter, which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.
Effluents of this nature enrich fungus coverage on the bed of the watercourse, which may lead to the destruction of spawning sites, as well as starving river invertebrates, on which fish feed, of oxygen.
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