The courts isued big fines last week to two companies responsible for major water pollution offences. In one case an oil spill cost the firm concerned over £17,500.
Mark Group Limited of Leicester pleaded guilty at Worcester Magistrates Court to polluting the Barbourne Brook at Gheluvelt Park, Worcester. The charges were brought by the Environment Agency for water pollution under the Water Resources Act. The company was fined a total of £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,563.53 plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Mark Group Limited are a home insulation company who in November 2008 were closing down their depot at Northbrook Close in Barbourne.
For the Environment Agency, Sheila Abrahams told the court that on 14th November 2008 Environment Agency officers received calls about oil on the Barbourne Brook. The source was traced to an outfall at Northbrook Close in Barbourne where officers discovered staining on the yard of Mark Group’s premises and on the road, consistent with someone washing down oil into the drains. They found three road gullies containing substantial amounts of oil.
The company claimed that their employees unwittingly passed a redundant oil tank to some individuals whom they presumed were from a company Mark Group had asked to pick up the tank. The unidentified individuals dropped the tank whilst trying to load it on to a lorry, resulting in the oil spill. There was no spill clean up equipment on site.
The oil flowed in to the Barbourne Brook, through Gheluvelt Park. The pond at Gheluvelt Park is home to a pair of swans who were coated in oil. The swans were successfully rescued and treated by Bishopswood Swan Rescue.
In mitigation, the company apologised to the court for the incident and accepted responsibility for the offence. They said they had an unblemished record with no previous convictions since they started trading in 1974. The court gave them credit for an early guilty plea.
Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer involved in the investigation said:
“This company failed to fulfil some pretty basic environmental responsibilities, resulting in the serious oiling of some wildfowl. Companies who do not train or supervise their staff properly will be held to account for any pollution they cause. If the company had made sure these oil tanks were properly handled this whole incident could have been avoided. Companies are legally obliged to check that all wastes they produce are passed to a Registered Waste Carrier. They can check this on line at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.”
Ecosystem damaged by bulb waste
In another incident, a nursery company responsible for a pollution which had a catastrophic effect on a tributary of the River Nene was fined £10,000.
PS & JE Ward Ltd pleaded guilty at King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court to causing the pollution at Belmont Nursery, Long Road, Terrington St Clement, King’s Lynn in May and was ordered to pay full costs of £6,178 costs.
Miss Claire Bentley, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said that discharge from a pipe into the stream at the site was grossly polluting. “The discharge caused a catastrophic impact on the water rendering the invertebrate ecosystem completely lifeless in the vicinity of the discharge.”
“There was also evidence suggesting that the discharge had been occurring over an extended period.”
Miss Bentley told the court that the polluting liquid had come from a stockpile of bulbs and cut flower stems in the yard at the nursery. Liquid ran from the pile, across a concrete surface and into a drain 11 metres away.
Agency officers responding to a call about the state of the stream saw black spots in it and scum on the surface. Dye tracing confirmed that the source of the pollution was the nursery.
Miss Bentley told the court immediately downstream of the discharge pipe the stream was ‘entirely full with rotten waste’. She said survey results indicated a long-standing disturbance of the ecosystem and evidence that the discharge had been happening for weeks or months. 7.7km downstream the water quality was still poor.
Director Peter Ward told Environment Agency officers that the waste had been stored in the yard for two months and the company had not realised there was a problem. He had not been aware that run-off from green waste was highly polluting.
As soon as the company became aware of the problem it blocked the outlet and a few days later a waste contractor removed the pile of waste from the yard and used it as organic matter on a company field.
Mr Ward said that since the incident there was a new company policy to spread all green waste onto the fields where the plants are grown. Mrs Deborah Sharples for the defence said the company was very sorry for the incident and had taken advice from consultants to ensure it did not happen again. She said it had caused ‘considerable distress’ to the company.
After the hearing Environment Agency officer Rachel Parker said:
“Many thousands of pollution incidents occur each year and most are avoidable. Businesses should assess and manage pollution risks to prevent the escape of harmful substances to the environment, this includes understanding the drainage on their sites.
“In the event that escapes of polluting materials occur, emergency procedures should be in place to help reduce the impact.”
PS & JE Ward Ltd pleaded guilty to:
On or about 11 May 2010, you did cause the entry into inland freshwaters, namely an unnamed tributary of the River Nene, of poisonous noxious or polluting matter, at Belmont Nursery, Long Road, Terrington St Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk Contrary to Regulation 12(1)(b) and regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.