Source: Linda Stewart / Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph reports:
A local farmer has admitted the pollution was from dirty water which came from his property and has apologised for the incident and promised to do all he can to make amends.
The alarm was raised through an anonymous report from a member of the public that large numbers of dead fish had been seen in the river upstream of Comber town on the Enler River, a tributary of Strangford Lough.
Farmer Martin Hamilton said water used for washing crops had leaked into the river and estimated some 25,000 litres of dirty water had left the farm and deoxygenated the river.
Mr Hamilton is quoted as saying:
“We had a massive run-off on one of the fields and we have got ourselves into a real mess. A total apology from ourselves to everyone involved.
It is a situation that we are deeply embarrassed by. We plan to throw every resource at it to recover it.
We are giving cast iron guarantees that we will be replacing any stock that is lost.”
Describing the water pollution as ‘high severity’, Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment said evidence is being collected from a premises with a view to prosecution and a joint investigation is being carried out by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, part of the DoE, and the Inland Waterways and Fisheries branch of the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure.
Eddie Donnelly from the local Inler Angling Club said that it was the worst fish kill he had ever seen and that ‘the whole life’ had been taken out of the river.
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