Cookstown farmer fined £200 for pollution offence

A Co Tyrone farmer has pleaded guilty and was fined £200 plus court costs of £22 at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Oct 2012, 15:41 BST

Mr William Henry, of Killycurragh Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, was fined for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 16 January 2012, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, inspected an unnamed tributary of the Ballinderry River, Killycurragh Road, Cookstown and observed the waterway to be visibly discoloured. There was a strong agricultural odour and there was heavy fungal growth on the bed of the waterway. Approximately 1.5 miles of waterway was affected by the discharge. The source of this polluting discharge was traced to a farm owned by Mr Henry.

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.