Home developer fined £6,000 for water contamination
Friday, 26 June 2009
A developer was handed a fine of £6,000 on Monday at Greenock Sheriff Court for a water pollution offence.
Stewart Milne Group Limited pled guilty to carrying out an activity which resulted in contaminated water being discharged into a tributary of the Daff Burn. The matter was reported to the Procurator Fiscal by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
On 21 February 2008, SEPA investigating officers attended Inverkip Marina in response to a pollution complaint. They noted discolouration due to silt pollution and traced the source back to the Stewart Milne Homes development site at Ardgowan Rise. Water contaminated with silt was running off the site, through a culvert and into a tributary of the Daff Burn.
Samples taken during a follow up inspection on 1 April 2008 showed that high silt levels were still present both in the tributary upstream of the culvert and in the quarry at Ardgowan Rise.
SEPA's investigating officer, Emma Keir, said:
"The measures that had been installed on site were not sufficient to ensure that drainage was managed appropriately and prevent the escape of silt pollution.
"When silt levels are high it can adversely impact on plants, fish and other water species. Solids entering burns can settle out on the bed of the watercourse and effectively smother the small animals and plants that inhabit the gravels. Excessive silt can also smother any fish eggs which have been deposited in the gravels, by clogging the spaces between the gravel and thus preventing oxygen from reaching the eggs."
SEPA's Colin Bayes, Director of Environmental Protection and Improvement said:
"We want to help people avoid pollution and advice on how to do that is easily available from our staff, offices and www.sepa.org.uk. The NetRegs website, www.netregs.gov.uk , also offers clear guidance on environmental rules and regulations. However, where pollution is significant or persistent, or is as a result of wilful or negligent actions, SEPA will use its enforcement powers to protect the environment for the benefit of all of Scotland's citizens."
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