South West Water was today (28th February, 2008) ordered to pay £8,215 in fines and costs after sewage discharged into the Truro River from a sewage treatment works. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
A court heard how local shellfish beds were temporarily closed as a result of the spill because of possible contamination by bacteria. The pollution occurred in the sensitive Fal and Truro river catchment which is designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Inquiries by the Environment Agency revealed that on June 2, 2007 a computer and penstock controlling the flow of sewage into the Truro Treatment Works failed. This caused sewage to be diverted into a storm tank that continued to fill until late on June 3 when, after reaching its maximum capacity, began discharging into the Truro River.
The illegal discharge was not reported to the Environment Agency until June 5 – three days after a problem first occurred. Checks by the Agency revealed that sewage continued to spill from the site for 22 hours until the fault was finally rectified by South West Water.
Storm tanks should only be used at times of excessive flows.The computer failure meant that flows could not be diverted to additional storm tanks at the site.
South West Water is required, under the terms of its discharge consent, to alert the Agency within 24 hours of a failure. It should also empty storm tanks before they reach their maximum capacity. This was not done.
‘This was a serious discharge that caused the closure of an important shellfishery for 12 days and resulted in local shellfishermen losing out financially. Water companies must ensure their sewage treatment works’ are fully compliant and take prompt and effective action when a failure occurs. This is especially important in sensitive catchments like the Truro River where a failure can have a far greater impact on the environment,’ said Mark Pilcher for the Environment Agency.
Appearing before West Cornwall Magistrates sitting in Camborne today, South West Water was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £2,200 costs after pleading guilty to two offences under the Water Resources Act 1990 including discharging inadequately treated sewage effluent from its Truro Sewage Treatment Works and failing to inform the Environment Agency of a failure that might adversely affect effluent quality. The company was also ordered to pay a £15.00 victim charge.
