A Co Fermanagh farmer has been fined after silage leaked into a river and posed a risk to fish and other water wildlife.
Kevin Leonard. of Kesh Road in Irvinestown, was convicted at Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court for a polluting discharge to a waterway and fined £750 plus a £15 offenders levy.
A report was made to the NI Environment Agency that farm effluent was entering the Hollow River in the Lisnarick area of Irvinestown and water quality inspectors traced the leakage to an overflow pipe on Mr Leonard's farm on June 16 of last year.
A Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson said a sample of the discharge, which affected around 1km of the river, found "poisonous, noxious, or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life".
They added that such discharges "enrich fungus coverage on the bed of the watercourse which may lead to the destruction of fish spawning sites, as well as starving both fish and river invertebrates, on which fish feed, of oxygen".
