The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is reminding anyone carrying out work in or near a watercourse to ensure they take steps to protect the environment before starting. The warning comes after a former fishery consultant was fined £9000 last week for allowing work to be carried out at a reservoir in Perthshire which resulted in serious pollution to the River Earn.

Richard Philp had pled guilty on 6 October 2009 to carrying on a controlled activity liable to cause pollution of the water environment at the reservoir of Whitehouse of Dunira Estate without authorisation under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005.

The work, which was done by a sub-contractor, resulted in suspended solids entering the Allt Sgairnich Mhoir, a tributary of the River Earn, and then on into the River Earn itself. The matter was investigated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and reported to the Procurator Fiscal.  

Perth Sheriff Cour heard that in March 2008 SEPA officers responded to a complaint about silt pollution in the River Earn near Comrie. When officers arrived at the River Earn they found the water was heavily polluted, and traced the pollution up the Allt Sgairnich Mhor to some works which were being carried out to clear out and restore a fishing pond at the Dunira Estate, Comrie. The Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board identified the Allt Sgairnich Mhor as one of the most important spawning burns in the Earn. 

SEPA officers took samples of the watercourse and measured silt deposits.  They found that the levels of silt above the works were 8mg/l, whilst those below the works were 1,900mg/l over 200 times higher than the upstream levels.  They also found deposits of over 30cm of silt on the bed of the watercourse immediately downstream of the works.  A SEPA fishery ecologist also attended and made an assessment on the likely impact on any spawning redds in the watercourse.

Calum McGregor, a Senior Environment Protection Officer for SEPA based in Perth, said:

"I have over 10 years experience dealing with pollution incidents and have never seen an impact from suspended solids of this scale before. A significant volume of silt was released and deposited into an important river at a critical time in the life cycle for salmon, sea trout and brown trout. Most, if not all, of them would have spawned in the River Earn by the time of the incident and their eggs would have been very vulnerable. The silt, which was up to 30 centimetres deep, also caused a significant impact on the invertebrate ecology.

"It was entirely foreseeable that the works at the reservoir would result in the release of suspended solids pollution unless proper mitigation plans were put into place. The works included removing about 1,000 tonnes of silt, while allowing a watercourse to run through a construction area. Guidance on working in or near watercourses and guidance on the risk of pollution associated with construction works, including the risk of silt pollution, has been produced and it would have been possible to overpump or divert the watercourse ensuring that the suspended solids were not allowed to be discharged or escape from the works.