NI farmer fined for water pollution offences that caused fish kill
Date of alert:
Monday, 18 April 2022
Crime Ref:
Force:
Police Service of Northern Ireland
A Northern Irish farmer has been ordered to pay out nearly £3,000 following a pollution incident that killed fish.
County Fermanagh farmer Rodney Elliott was convicted at Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court for water pollution offences that caused a fish kill.
The court heard that on 26 June 2018 a Senior Water Quality Inspector (SWQI) and Water Quality Inspector (WQI), 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 where they discovered that slurry had flowed down Druminiskill Road and entered a roadside drain which discharged to the nearby waterway.
Inland Fisheries colleagues carried out a survey. The fish kill was confined to the polluted tributary, but no dead fish were observed in the main Arney River.
