Tyrone hotel and spa fined for discharging untreated sewage

Corick House Hotel and Spa between Augher and Clogher

The County Tyrone business appeared before Dungannon Magistrates’ Court today (Monday) for contravening the conditions of a discharge consent issued by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Director Andrew Beacom, holds a consent to discharge under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 which permits discharges to be made from Corick House Ltd to a waterway under specific conditions.

But a sample collected on 17 September 2015 was analysed and had been found to be in breach of its consent limits.

On February 9, 2016, water quality inspectors, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency visited Corick House Hotel to discuss its ongoing non-compliance with consent standards for sewage effluent discharging from the premises.

The inspectors examined two wastewater treatment systems. One appeared to be inoperative and untreated sewage was filling the chamber with poor quality effluent.

They said the effluent being discharged would be polluting in nature due to the lack of treatment.

As arranged, water quality inspectors revisited the premises on May 12, 2016 to collect a sample of the discharge leaving the premises through the designated sample point - a constant flow through the pipe at the base of the chamber was observed and a sample of the effluent being discharged was collected.

The results of the analysis show that these discharges failed to comply with the consent conditions, and this effluent was therefore unsuitable for discharge to a receiving watercourse.