A company has made a financial contribution of over £1 million to come into compliance and to deal with the effects of a pollution incident in 2018.
An investigation by the Environment Agency has ended in Mettis Aerospace Ltd of Redditch making the payment under an Enforcement Undertaking (EU).
The company designs, manufactures, and assembles precision forged and machined components for the aerospace, defence and specialist sectors.
Mettis accepted that discharges from their metals installation, a site permitted by the Environment Agency, had caused a fish-kill incident.
The discharges, from the site’s surface water drainage system, arose from the uncontrolled overfilling of a process tank on the site and inadequate containment measures.
This meant a solution of caustic and sodium aluminate was able to leak into an unprotected surface water drain and into an adjacent watercourse. Approximately 1,000 fish were killed.
As an alternative to prosecution for the offence, Mettis offered an EU including spending some £504,240 on site infrastructure improvements.
Details of the EU include:
- Donations to environmental enhancement projects in Redditch and the Black Country totalling £379,500.
- Initial pollution clean-up costs of £111,268
- Payment of the Environment Agency’s initial investigation costs of £9,324
- Site infrastructure improvements, training and management systems development and certification costs of £504,240
- Loss of amenity compensation payments to local charities £7,000
- Payment of Environment Agency’s costs for assessing compliance with the EU £13,026
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said:
“Protecting the environment and taking action against those that damage or threaten this is our utmost priority.
“While we will always prosecute in the most serious cases, enforcement undertakings are an effective enforcement tool to allow companies to put things right and contribute to environmental improvements.
“They enable businesses to become more compliant and prevent repeat offending by improving their procedures, helping ensure future compliance with environmental requirements.”
Four organisations received donations to environmental enhancement projects in Redditch and the Black Country totalling £379,500.
They were: Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust £139,500; Worcestershire Wildlife Trust £5,000; Forge Mill Needle Museum £55,000; Redditch Borough Council £180,000.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.