A Co. Tyrone farmer has been convicted and fined at Omagh Magistrates’ Court today (Monday, June 24) in relation to farm effluent pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
38-year-old David Kenwell of Killyliss Road, Fintona, pleaded guilty and was fined \u00a31,000 with a \u00a315 Offenders Levy for an offence under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, as amended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court heard that on August 2, 2022, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency\u00a0(NIEA<\/a>) Water Quality Inspectors (WQIs) received a report of a farm effluent entering an unnamed tributary of the Owenreagh River.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n When they visited the farm, the inspectors discovered that an unlined sump had been constructed from permeable gravel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The court was told that this construction was allowing silage effluent to escape and enter the waterway via a concrete pipe.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n This pollution incident was classified as of medium severity where 1.5km of waterway was impacted by this discharge of silage effluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A tripartite statutory sample was collected from the discharge pipe and analysed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone wishing to report a pollution incident can call the 24-hour Incident Hotline on\u00a00800 80 70 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA<\/a>)\u00a0said that it is an offence under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 to make a polluting discharge to a waterway and to make a discharge of trade or sewage effluent into a waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n Court<\/h2>\n\n\n\n