A Ceredigion farmer must pay over £1,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to polluting a major tributary of the Afon Teifi with the arable pesticide chemical, cypermethrin. The prosecution was brought by Environment Agency Wales at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court on 13 February 2007.
Michael Owens of Glanrhydydre Farm, Pontsian, Llandysul was fined £300 for causing cypermethrin to enter the Afon Clettwr. He was also ordered to pay in £800 legal costs.
The Court was told that in October 2005 a biological survey of the Afon Clettwr established that there had been a severe decline in invertebrate life, such as insects, freshwater shrimps snails and worms. These tiny creatures form the main food supply for both fish and birds and represent a fundamental link in the food chain. Investigations undertaken in November 2005 established that the river was impacted by the pollution for an estimated length of seven kilometres.
Further survey work was undertaken in December 2005 to find the source of the pesticide chemical cypermethrin, found in the Afon Clettwr. That survey established that cypermethrin had entered the Afon Clettwr Fawr from a stream draining from Glanrhydydre Farm. It appeared that the pollutant had entered the stream from a drain located in the farmyard.
In the investigation of this incident a combination of invertebrate and moss sampling was used. This allowed the investigation to look back over a longer period of time than if only invertebrate sampling had been used. Samples of moss taken from the river revealed the presence of the pesticide chemical cypermethrin in the lower reaches of the catchment.
The cypermethrin identified in the samples was arable cypermethrin rather than the type licensed for use on sheep and the Court was told that arable cypermethrin had been inadvertently mistaken for herbicide and used to spray nettles located in the yard area.
After the case, Gareth Jones the Agency’s local Environment Management team said:
The pesticide Cypermethrin is extremely toxic in water and continues to behave as an insecticide in water with devastating results. Any person using pesticides must take great care to prevent them from entering a watercourse. The toxicity of these chemicals to the aquatic environment means that even a few drops can cause a severe environmental effect over kilometers of streams and rivers.’
‘This case highlights the fact that by using a combination of investigative techniques the Environment Agency can track some pollution incidents several months after they have occurred. This case also shows that if the Agency suspects that an unlicensed chemical has been used as a sheep dip and a pollution incident arises, then enforcement action will be taken.’
