Environmental clean-up company fined for pollution offence
J K Environmental & Sons were today fined £2500, and ordered to pay £3083 in costs, for polluting a tributary of the Grunty Fen Catchwater Drain, on 17 November 2005, with contaminated waste liquid in contravention of Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
The court, sitting at Ely Magistrates, heard that a J K Environmental wastewater tanker discharged its contents directly into a watercourse near Wilburton, Cambridgeshire. The pollution caused was found to be three to four times the polluting strength of raw sewage and had a significant effect on water quality in the area.
J K Environmental & Sons Ltd. of Orchard Road, Royston, Hertfordshire had pleaded guilty to the offence on 27 March 2007at a previous hearing at Ely Magistrates Court.
The alleged driver of the tanker involved in the incident, also appeared in court today and pleaded not guilty to a charge under Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991 and a date is to be set for his trial.
On Thursday 17 November two members of the pubic saw a tanker parked on a road siding on Station Road, Wilburton. They both reported to the Environment Agency that they had seen the tanker discharging a dark coloured liquid at a high flow rate from the vehicle, and although they didn’t have the registration number, they had seen the words ‘JK Environmental’ on the side of the tanker.
Within 20 minutes of receiving the report, Environment Agency officers arrived at the site but found that the lorry had left. The officers found evidence that the ground had been disturbed where the force of the flow had eroded the surface and sewage related debris was found on the ground. Samples were taken from the affected watercourse and it was found that the polluting matter, a dark coloured turbid matter, had the pollution strength of between three and four times that of raw, untreated sewage and that the liquid had potentially toxic levels of ammonia in each sample over the 100m stretch that was sampled.
Two weeks later various documents, including worksheets and personnel logsheets, were seized from JK Environmental’s office in Royston. On a further visit, a specialist on GPS tracking systems went with Environment Agency officers and extracted tracking data from a computer. This showed the route one of JK Environmental’s vehicles had taken and a stop it made at the same location, date and time as the reports were received from members of the public.
Prior to the incident occurring, the GPS tracking device, fitted to the tanker showed the vehicle had stopped at a number of nearby mobile home sites known to have septic tanks.
Commenting on the case, Phil Henderson, Senior Environment Officer with the Environment Agency said, “We are concerned that the company didn’t have a system or sufficient supervision in place to ensure that its vehicles and equipment couldn’t be used like this. The offence was committed deliberately by an employee, using a company vehicle, with company equipment, on company time and therefore the company must bear some responsibility for the incidentâ€. This fact has been recognised by the court.
“It appears that the employee deliberately discharged sewage matter from the vehicle causing serious pollution of a fenland watercourse and we are pleased that the company accepted responsibility for this incident and entered a timely guilty plea. The use of modern technology in this case highlights the means we are now able to use to trace and identify offenders who seek to ignore regulations in place to protect the environmentâ€.
Charges;
On Thursday 17 November 2005 J. K Environmental & Sons Ltd caused poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter a tributary of the Grunty Fen Catchwater drain.
Contrary to Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991
