Scottish Water was fined £1,700 on Tuesday this week after a Perth burn was polluted with discharge from a combined sewer overflow.
The water company pled guilty to failing to comply with a condition of their licence after a discharge of sewage effluent from Inchture Village Pumping Station entered the burn near Huntly in July 2009. The matter was investigated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
In July 2009 a report of pollution at Inchture was received by SEPA's call centre. SEPA officers investigated and found that sewage was being discharged from an outfall pipe into the watercourse, which was turbid and grey downstream of the discharge. There was also a strong smell of sewage in the area. The discolouration appeared to affect the watercourse for at least 100 metres before the bank side vegetation obstructed the view further along. Samples of the discharge and the watercourse both above and below the discharge point were taken.
At the Inchture Village Pumping Station SEPA Officers observed that sewage was being discharged from the outfall pipe into the watercourse and the storm tanks were seen to be full. Investigations revealed that the discharge occurred because of a blockage in the sewer.
John Shabashow, one of SEPA's investigating officers said:
"A week after the pollution incident the water in the drainage ditch and tributary of the Huntly Burn was still cloudy and turbid. The combined total length of affected watercourse was over 2.8km. The samples taken, which were analysed by our chemists, show that the discharge was polluting. In fact the downstream sample more closely resembled sewage than water."
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