13/02/2002

Cookstown company fined for polluting river

A County Tyrone general manufacturing company has been prosecuted for the unauthorised discharge of trade effluent into a wastewater treatment works resulting in a major fish kill on the Killymoon River.

Central Laundries Limited, in Cookstown was fined £2,000, as well as analytical costs of over £2,000, at East Tyrone Magistrates Court on Monday February 11 after being found guilty of breaching its trade effluent discharge consent.

The pollution resulted in an extensive fish kill in the Killymoon and Ballinderry Rivers and also caused considerable damage to the ecosystems of the rivers.

The Regional Development Minister, Peter Robinson said: “I welcome the outcome of this case, in particular the imposition by the court of the maximum fine which should serve as a warning to other companies that offences like this will not be tolerated.

“This shows the Department’s commitment to prosecutions where dischargers breach their consent conditions and thereby cause damage not only to wastewater treatment works but also to the environment.”

(AMcE)

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