NI Water fined £13,000 for polluting Blackwater River
- Published
The Blackwater River in County Down
Northern Ireland Water has been fined £13,000 for polluting the Blackwater River in County Down.
On five different occasions between March 2014 and July 2015, sewage was discharged into the river from the Wastewater Treatment Works at Moneyrea.
A water quality inspector with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) discovered the pollution.
The river was severely impacted for several hundred metres downstream of the discharge.
Further investigation traced the source to the treatment works.
On four further occasions over the 16 months that followed, NIEA found this discharge to be recurring.
Samples taken at the time of the incidents confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.