Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Northern Ireland Water has been fined £3,000 after pleading guilty to making a discharge of sewage in County Down.

Downpatrick Court heard it happened in Dundrum in April 2021 and was described as being of "medium severity".

Sewage came from an overflow drain and could be seen on Main Street in the village.

It also ran into Dundrum Bay, designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) and a shellfish water protected area.

Northern Ireland Water is the government-owned company that manages the water and sewerage system.

A solicitor for Northern Ireland Water told the court "third party material" was observed in the sewage.

An alert system, installed after previous incidents, had not gone off as it would have been expected to do," said the solicitor.

Samples were not taken because of concerns about Covid-19 in sewage.

There was no evidence that fish had been killed or shellfish had been damaged as a result of the pollution in the bay.

The law permits the imposition of fines up to £20,000, something the judge said allowed for the seriousness of offences to be reflected.

She concluded that, given the efforts of Northern Ireland Water to clean the spill as quickly as possible and the lack of evidence of any fish being killed, a fine of £3,000 would be imposed.

A charge of contravening the conditions of a consent was withdrawn.