North Cork Creameries says it is “not the cause of the Blackwater fish kill”.
It follows the publication of reports with results of water testing from the Munster Blackwater, where thousands of fish have died in a stretch of the river around Mallow in North Cork.
One report from the EPA says that the creamery failed to inform it of non-compliant discharges into the river and that these “may have caused environmental pollution”, according to the Irish Examiner.
EPA testing of the site found that ammonia levels in waste water discharge were 52 times over the permitted limit for the company’s discharge licence.
In a statement in response, as reported in Agriland, the dairy farmer cooperative said it has already been working with the EPA “over a period of months to ensure compliance with the wastewater emission licence which we hold”.
North Cork Creameries emphasised that this “existing EPA process should not and must not be misinterpreted or conflated into the Blackwater incident”.
It added: "Following the incident, the EPA stated that their investigation had found no causal link between our site and the fish kill in the River Blackwater.”
