The Water Service in Northern Ireland have come under increasing pressure this month to explain how raw sewage leaked into a river at an Ulster beauty spot, and killed around 1,500 fish. Environmentalists and local politicians have warned that it could take years to repair the damage caused to the Burren River and the lower reaches of the Shimna River in Newcastle. Brian Finn of the Fisheries Conservation Board, said "the water temperatures in rivers now, during this particularly hot period, are very high, river flows are very low so any form of pollution from any source is going to have a major effect on fish."
This was the second recent fish kill in Northern Ireland, after 1,000 were killed in a 750 metre stretch of the River Lagan at Donaghcloney in County Armagh, following the escape of a chemical into the river.
