Uisce Éireann fined for third Ballinagh fish kill since 2015

Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, has been fined €4,000 plus costs for causing a 2022 fish kill on the Ballinagh River, the third such incident on the stretch of water in less than a decade.

In excess of 150 fish were killed in the incident including brown trout, stickleback and minnow following a leakage from the nearby waste water treatment plant (WWTP) on July 19, 2022. Environmental and Fisheries officers from the North-Western River Basin District were alerted to the incident by a member of the public following which water samples were taken at the location and removed for scientific analysis.

Before Judge Michael Connellan at Cavan District Court last week Uisce Éireann entered a plea to one of four counts of causing deleterious matter to fall into the local waterway, which connects to Loch Gowna and is part of the wider Erne catchment. The maximum fine, on conviction, is €5,000.

Environmental Officer with Inland Fisheries Ireland, the state agency responsible for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and habitats, Ailish Keane, gave evidence in the case.

She told the court that she has been working in the role locally for the past 15 years, and that it was staff operating on the ground following a tip-off by a member of the public who informed her of the fish kill on the Ballinagh River.

It was, she said, “very clear” a pollutant had entered the water by the large number of dead fish floating on the surface.

Further upstream she identified a “grey plume” of discoloured water next to an outpipe connecting to the local waste water treatment facility.

Upstream from the water facility, the water was “clear” and fish were “alive”.

She took three samples of water - downstream, from the site of the effluent discharge, and upstream.

Photos of Ms Keane’s inspection of all three locations were handed into the judge, as well of the fish kill itself.

She informed the court that “sewerage fungus” has begun to form, “evidence” she said that the discharge of pollution had been “ongoing for quite a while". “It didn’t happen just straight away,” said Ms Keane in evidence.

Among the 150 plus dead fish found were “spawning” stickleback.

She said, from the samples taken at one point in the river, ammonia in water is usually at a level of less than one. The result of the sample taken from the Ballinagh River was “six times that”.

Ms Keane also examined the biochemical oxygen demand of the river, which is “less than five in a clean river” but here was “three times higher”.

She said the combination of both meant the watercourse had become “highly toxic” to fish.

The officer told the court that the Ballinagh River was considered hugely important, and that it was “very productive” as a breeding ground for from a fisheries point of view.

After the pollution was detected, Uisce Éireann was alerted. The next morning, July 20, she met with officials from the semi-State utilities provider and provided them with a “split sample” from that which was taken by her a day earlier.

She acknowledged that Uisce Éireann carried out an inspection of the site, but noted to the court that there exists a “longer term issue” that needs to be addressed in relation to the Ballinagh WWTP.

Ms Keane said there had been “issues at the plant before” and from IFI’s own inspections there continued to be “issues at the plant”.

She said that the pollution identified in July last year had been occurring “for days”, and the problem from a pollution perspective was only compounded by high weather temperatures and low water levels at the time.

Daily inspections recommended

The officer said she had, in the past, recommended that a member of the Uisce Éireann team carry out daily inspections so such incidents can be identified and remedied more quickly in future.

“Somebody needs to go and inspect and see if the discharge is grey. If it is there is a problem,” Ms Keane told Judge Connellan.

Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, were twice previously convicted on charges relating to pollution of the Ballinagh River.

In 2015 the body was fined €2,500 plus €3,917.43 in costs, and in 2019 was fined €3,000 plus costs totalling €4,679.62.

Costs in relation to the latest case amounted to €3,079.09.

Aoife Sheehan BL, instructed by Damien Rudden Solicitors, appeared for Uisce Éireann.

She said Uisce Éireann was satisfied there had been no more fish kills on the Ballinagh River since the July 2022 incident. But they also acknowledged that the Ballinagh WWTP was an “old plant” built in the 1960s, and for modern times is “inadequate infrastructure” and part of a network that was “inherited”.

The barrister said following the latest pollution incident that Uisce Éireann conducted a cleaning operation on July 21, with check and operational procedures implemented.

“A more long-term problem requires a more long-term solution,” said Ms Sheehan of the Ballinagh WWTP, which was on Uisce Éireann’s programme for future investment. “We are aware it is a problematic site.”

She said that due to the 2021 review on public spending codes that planned works for the local WWTP “had to be revisited”, but stated that Uisce Éireann is now examining “options” on what to do next, and this could either mean full refurbishment, or a decommissioning of the plant and a new build on a greenfield site. The latter solution would require planning permission and licensing however.

Conviction welcomed

In a statement issued to The Anglo-Celt after court had ended, a spokesperson for Inland Fisheries Ireland welcomed the court determination against Uisce Eireann regarding this “serious fish kill event” on the Ballinagh River – the third such prosecution regarding the Ballinagh wastewater plant since 2015.

“Levels of ammonia in the water samples were 32 times greater than would be expected in good salmonid waters. Approximately 160 fish, predominantly brown trout, perished in this incident.”

The spokesperson added that fish kill events such as these are “extreme ecological events” which can have a “severe and prolonged impact” on native fish stocks due to the loss of locally adapted, genetically-distinct, fish populations which “may take many years to recover”.

“We welcome further engagement with Uisce Eireann to ensure that regular visual inspections of wastewater facilities such as these are conducted to minimise the risk of such pollution events reoccurring.”