A FIRM was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay compensation yesterday over pollution that caused a fish kill in Co Derry.
J&A Renewables was also fined at Magherafelt Magistrates Court for operating an anaerobic digestion plant without a valid waste management authorisation licence.
The pollution was discovered in November 2016 in Altagoan River, a tributary of the Moyola, downstream of Gortnaskea Road, Draperstown.
Water quality inspectors found it green in colour and spotted slurry discharging into the river from a pipe to the rear of the anaerobic digester site.
Dead brown trout were also discovered.
A search of departmental records later confirmed there was no authorisation or application for an anaerobic digestion plant to operate at the site.
J&A Renewables was fined £750 for making a polluting discharge to a waterway, £850 for having no valid waste management licence, and ordered to pay £1,845 compensation for the fish kill.