Northern Ireland Water fined for reducing river water quality

Northern Ireland Water (NIW) has been fined £2,300 for a series of incidents at a sewage pumping station that reduced water quality in the Drumaness river.

Following a hearing at Downpatrick Magistrates' Court, the company was found guilty of two counts of polluting the river.

Between 2009 and 2010, the court heard, NIW was responsible for two overflows of untreated sewage from the Magheratimpany Sewage Pumping Station.

Inspectors noted that the discharges contained toxic material that could have harmed fish in the river.

A spokesperson for NIW said: "While a number of remedial actions were undertaken by NI Water prior to this incident, there were no quick solutions to this problem."

They added that the company had invested approximately £1 million to ensure the problem does not occur again.

Recently, Thames Water's field operations manager Rob Smith launched a campaign to stop people from blocking sewages lines by flushing large items down the toilet.

Mr Smith claimed the strangest items he had come across were a hand grenade and second-hand car parts.

Posted by Claire Manning