Figures from the Freedom of Information Act 2000 released recently have revealed that the Water Service in Northern Ireland has caused more than 1,500 pollution incidents between 2000 and 2005. This equates to almost one a day. These incidents include a major fish kill on the River Roe near Limavady last July, waterways being polluted with raw sewage and the Church Brae Burn near Derry was turned grey with fungus and septic for around six weeks last summer. In fact, we reported two other incidents in the August 2006 Monthly Bulletin, where around 2,500 fish were killed as a result of leaks caused by the Water Service.
However, Jack McFarland, regional manager with the Water Service, said most of the incidents were of a minor nature. "We have hundreds of pumping stations and sewerage works and not everything works exactly to plan, as we would wish. We do have failures and we are not proud of them, but in fairness they are not causing a great degree of pollution; it is manageable." Reacting to this statement, the Ulster Farmers' Union raised the concern that while farmers have to invest thousands of pounds to meet water quality regulations and are constantly under threat of financial penalties, the Water Service currently enjoys immunity from prosecution for pollution incidents.
However this Crown immunity will cease when the Water Service becomes Northern Ireland Water Ltd, in April 2007. They will have a stay of execution until 2008, as a result of the poor state of its inherited infrastructure.
