SILAGE effluent seeped into a watercourse after running downhill from a farm, a court heard.
The pollution, which found its way into the River Browney, a tributary of the River Wear, was traced back to Hill Top Farm, in Esh, County Durham.
It led to farmer Colin Mace appearing before Durham magistrates yesterday facing prosecution by the Environment Agency.
He was fined £1,000, and ordered to pay £500 costs to the agency, after admitting causing polluted matter, silage effluent, to enter the River Browney, last July.
The court heard that the agency received a complaint from a member of the public claiming silage effluent had polluted a stream which ran through their garden.
Two officers investigated and found effluent discharging from a small tributary which ran through the gardens of Wallnook Lane, and into the Browney.
Jill Fogg, prosecuting for the agency, said it was traced back to the farm where there was a silage heap and uncontained effluent.
Mace was asked to use his excavator to dig an interception ditch, and he immediately agreed, and installed a fibreglass tank to collect the silage effluent.
The court heard that Mace apologised for the incident and has spent £6,000 introducing a system to prevent any recurrence.
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