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Beauty spot is polluted again

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

The red diesel entering Dungannon Park Lake caught by this floating boom is clearly visible.

A DUNGANNON beauty spot has been polluted for the second time in three months.
The Dungannon Park Lake became contaminated with red diesel last Wednesday morning but it is not yet known what the cause of the leak was.
Back in November The Courier reported that the popular tourist attraction, which attracts thousands of visitors and fly-fishing enthusiasts every year, had been polluted after an oil spill and once more the problem has arose.
The Courier contacted the council to see if they had ascertained the cause of the spill but, in a statement, they said the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) is "still investigating the source of the spill."
The problem was discovered at about 11am last Wednesday morning and park staff deployed floating booms and absorbent pads and water deflection supply to prevent access to the lake.

NIEA staff were on staff at 11.15am and additional booms and material was deployed. The operation continued until 6pm, with the team returning on Thursday morning to complete the work and they will continue to visit the area for a while.
When asked what was being done to correct what appears to be something of a re-occurring problem, the council said:
“The DOE are responsible for water course management. The Council are considering options in relation to any effective action that can be taken to protect the park lake.
“This will require further investigations and discussions with other statutory agencies before an appropriate action plan can be identified/implemented. Where possible, additional measures will be investigated."
The colour of the water had been quite clearly altered by the spillage, as can be seen from our pictures, and one Dungannon angling enthusiast has described the incident as "shameful."
“That lake gets all the run off from the town," said Tommy Conlon. "That lake is pure silt and the oil sticks in the silt and you can't get it out of it. It's a pity because it's a gorgeous lake - but it's filthy."
Mr Conlon had previously raised issue saying he believed the lake should have been closed during the spill back in November but the council have said it has not been necessary to close the lake at any stage.
They said: "Both reported incidents have not had sufficient impact to warrant the closure of the lake. If an incident occurred that required the closure of the facility this decision would be implemented immediately."
Meanwhile, the Ballinderry River near Coagh has also been polluted after almost two tonnes of contaminated cat litter, allegedly used in fuel laundering, was found at the side of the Ardagh Road.
The toxic substance was removed the following day by Cookstown District Council.The following statement was issued by the NIEA: "The bulk of the clean-up has now been completed, but some precautionary follow up cleaning may continue for some days. No final costs are therefore yet available for the total staff, equipment and specialist contractor costs of cleaning up the spill. However, based on past NIEA experience, the total cleanup costs are likely to be in the region of several thousand pounds.
“No adult fish appear to have been killed, although NIEA will of course continue to monitor the lake. A small number of fingerlings (several dozen) are dead in the stream feeding into the lake, where the oil was contained in a largely successful effort to protect the main body of the lake from becoming badly polluted.
“Regarding the pollution incident last November, NIEA are still pursuing recovery of the costs of this incident with the polluter. As this may result in legal proceedings if these costs are not paid, it would not be appropriate at this stage to discuss the precise clean-up costs."

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