Building Firm Boss Fined Over Sea Pollution

A construction boss has been fined and bound over in the sum of £500 for two years for pollution.

At Coleraine Magistrates' Court, Jack Gibson, of Gibson (Banbridge) Ltd was sentenced after accepting responsibility for a polluting discharge to a waterway.

The managing director's court appearance came after a bathing water sample collected at Curran Strand, Portrush failed to meet the EU Bathing Water Directive mandatory standard due to elevated bacteria levels on 1 June 2009. A further sample collected on 2 June 2009 also failed.

Investigations were carried out on 3 and 4 June 2009 to identify a cause for the bathing water failures. On 4 June 2009 road works were observed being carried out on the Ballywillan Road, Portrush and on inspection it was noted that contaminated groundwater was being discharged to a road gully.

On 5 June 2009, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency inspected the road works being carried out on the Ballywillan Road by Gibson (Banbridge) Ltd, a general construction and civil engineering firm.

The inspector observed two construction pits, which were being used to facilitate the installation of concrete pipework for the re-location of the culverted Tar Burn.

It was noted that the water contained in these pits was dark grey in colour and there was a detected odour of sewage.

He observed water being actively pumped out of one of the construction pits into a settlement tank before supernatant water was discharged to a nearby road gully.

Fluorescent tracing dye was added to the supernatant water and later on 5 June 2009 was observed discharging from the culverted Tar Burn onto Curran Strand and was also visible along the shoreline waves.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.

A sample was also collected for microbiological analysis. This indicated elevated levels of bacteria.

Any discharge containing such high levels of bacteria would be highly polluting in nature and potentially harmful to human health.

(BMcC/GK)