A Co Antrim company has recently been fined £500 for making a polluting discharge to a waterway and also fined an additional £500 for making a discharge in contravention of the Department’s consent conditions.

In 2007, an officer from the Pollution Prevention Team and a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency observed a polluting discharge entering the waterway. The source of the polluting discharge was traced to the company's site.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious and polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving watercourse.

The Department’s consent to discharge states that the suspended solids content of the effluent should not exceed 50 milligrammes per litre and that there should be no visible oil or grease in the effluent. The effluent failed to comply with both these requirements and was, therefore, unsuitable for discharge.

The analysis shows that the sample had a suspended solids level of 240 milligrammes per litre and this level of suspended solids over a sustained period of time would have a serious impact on the fish life in the waterway.

Harmful effects include clogging fish gills leading to stress, smothering and death, the destruction of fish spawning sites leading to a reduction in fish population and the destruction of habitats for invertebrates which are an important food source for fish. Suspended solids also blanket aquatic plants leading to reduced growth rates and reduction in dissolved oxygen levels inn the water.