Two miles of stream was polluted by waste from an animal rendering plant at Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire when a storage lagoon overflowed.
The Environment Agency told Lincoln Magistrates Court that the incident was avoidable but the company responsible, A Hughes and Son (Skellingthorpe) Ltd, failed to take steps to prevent it happening even though they knew it could happen.
Magistrates fined the company £8,000 and ordered them to pay full Envionment Agency costs of £3,240.
The incident happened in August last year during a period of heavy rain when rainwater mixed with animal waste and treated effluent causing it to overflow from a storage lagoon into the Skellingthorpe catchwater drain, next to Jerusalem Farm, Skellingthorpe.
Magistrates were told that if some of the liquid had been transferred to a nearby empty lagoon the pollution could have been avoided. The company had the pumping equipment necessary but only checked the lagoon once a week and before the overflow it had not been checked for five days.
Normally the mixture would have been kept in the lagoon until it could be spread on the fields as fertiliser after harvest time but this had been delayed because of the heavy rain.
The pollution was reported to the Agency when white foam was seen leaking into a dyke and officers traced the foam to the overflowing lagoon and brought it to the attention of the rendering plant at the farm.
Samples taken showed the waste to be highly polluting, lowering oxygen levels in the water and raising ammonia levels to a toxic level for many organisms. Only organisms that are highly pollution tolerant or can breathe air would be able to survive.
After the hearing Senior Environment Agency officer David Hutchinson said: ‘This case demonstrates that companies need to take positive action to pollution prevention.
‘We take water pollution very seriously, and without action companies can leave themselves open to prosecution. We are pleased that the court has imposed a fine that reflects the severity of this incident.
‘Appropriate checks on the sites lagoons could have prevented this incident from happening, these did not take place.’
A Hughes and Son (Skellingthorpe) Ltd pleaded guilty to:
On or about 23rd August 2006 you did cause poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled waters, namely the Skellingthorpe catchwater drain, adjacent to Jerusalem Farm, Skellingthorpe.
Contrary to section 85(1) and section 85(6) Water Resources Act 1991
