Trio of water pollution cases in one morning at Omagh court

A TRIO of water pollution cases were dealt with at Omagh Magistrates Court in one morning earlier this week, prompting a Stormont department to acknowledge that it needed to do more to protect the local environment.

Within 45 minutes on Monday, two local farmers and a concrete manufacturing firm were all fined for polluting local waterways.

After the cases were dealt with, a spokesperson for Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) admitted that it needed to do more to combat pollution.

The spokesperson said, “While Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) proactively regulates and enforces the current regulations to protect our environment, it is recognised we need to do more.

“DAERA has recently prioritised its budget to strengthen regulation and enhance enforcement, particularly in relation to water quality, and is looking at how we can work with partners to review fines and penalties conscious of the deterrent effect whilst also striving to ensure the polluter pays.”

The first case in Omagh involved local farmer Michael McCullagh, of Gortigashel Road, who was fined £500 for polluting a small burn in Teebane.

The court heard that a pipe had been leaking raw sewage into the small waterway and some of which was harmful to the waterway. Upon discovery of this, McCullagh fixed the pipe.

Fined £2,500

The second case was against Dungannon-based firm, Joseph Barrett and Sons Limited, of Eglish Road, which was fined £2,500.

The court heard that, on April, 18 2023, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs) responded to a report of suspended solids in the Altamuskin River, near Sixmilecross.

The waterway appeared to be contaminated with suspended solids and this discharge had occurred when a settlement pond was having silt removed causing suspended solids to discharge to the waterway through an overflow pipe. The inspectors also discovered a grey coloured liquid with the appearance of cement washings exiting a discharge pipe and causing a visible grey coloured plume in the waterway.

A sample was collected from the piped discharge. The sample was analysed, and the material represented by the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.

Back on site, in the vicinity of the lorry wash bay, an active discharge was observed entering a manhole which was traced to the piped discharge point, from where the sample was collected.

Meanwhile, in the last case, David Kenwell (38), with an address at Killyliss Road, Fintona, was fined £1,000. The court heard that, that on August 2, 2022, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs) received a report of a farm effluent entering an unnamed tributary of the Owenreagh River.

At the farm, the inspectors discovered that an unlined sump had been constructed from permeable gravel and this construction was allowing silage effluent to escape and enter the waterway via a concrete pipe. This incident was classified as of medium severity where 1.5km of waterway was impacted by this discharge of silage effluent.

A sample was collected from the discharge pipe and analysed.

The material represented by the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.

This incident was classified as a ‘High Severity Incident’ that impacted more than 8km of waterway.