Company fined £4,000 for causing pollution to River Faughan tributary
Greenan Generation Limited, Carnmoney Road, Eglinton, pleaded guilty to two offences at the city’s Magistrates Court today.
The court heard that on 22 May last year, 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.
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.
The court was told a sample taken on 22 May this year 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.
The court heard that on 21 October last year the WQI re-visited the site and inspected the waterway at the Carnmoney Road below the Greenan Generation Ltd yard.
The court was told there was a strong smell of silage effluent from the water and fungus was observed on the bed of the waterway.
The company was was charged under Article 7(1)(a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order and fined £2,000 for the offence of making a polluting discharge to a waterway for 22 May 2015; and charged under Article 7(2) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, and fined £2,000 for the offence of making a discharge of any trade or sewage effluent to a waterway for 21 October 2015.