UK: Brewery fined for £20,000 for polluting River
A Dorset based brewer which owns a Hampshire pub was fined on 5 April after a faulty sewage treatment system polluted a local stream. Independent family brewers Hall and Woodhouse Ltd, which owns and operates the Swan public house in Newtown, near Newbury, pleaded guilty to four charges of polluting a tributary of the River Enbourne - a small but particularly clean river - on four occasions in 2005. The company also admitted two further similar matters which were taken into account by the court when sentencing, according to Newbury news report .
Alton Magistrates’ Court fined the company £5,000 on each offence amounting to a total of £20,000 and ordered it to pay £2,315.30 in costs.
The court heard how the Swan pub operates its own sewage treatment system on the site, which discharges cleaned effluent into a local stream. The Environment Agency sets stringent requirements on the quality of the discharge to ensure the environment is properly protected.Routine sampling in April 2005 revealed that the discharge breached water quality conditions.
When Environment Agency inspectors warned the company, it arranged for a service and inspection of the treatment plant to improve the quality. However, following another inspection in June, the pub’s discharge still fell below par and contractors were again called out and carried out a repair by replacing some bolts.
The following month, staff at the pub discovered sewage was still polluting the stream. This time, system engineers found a pump inside the treatment plant was not working, but company managers failed to inform the Environment Agency.
However, another sample taken in September revealed a severe breach in water quality standards caused by a total power loss to the treatment plant. Tests showed that this breach was more than 24 times over the permitted concentration limits on some of the water quality requirements. The situation was compounded by the fact that the fault was not repaired for two weeks despite staff being aware of the problem.
During an interview with investigating officers in October 2005, company managers admitted contractors had warned them in August 2004 that the system needed to be improved and better maintained. An engineer’s report said that the plant needed more frequent cleaning, and that rusty bolts which held an important component in place needed to be replaced.
Investigating officer Matthew Kendall said: "Hall and Woodhouse were warned by its contractors that the treatment plant was in disrepair, and despite being fully aware of the harm this could cause to the environment failed to take any action. This lapse polluted a particularly clean stream unnecessarily.
"Any company or individual who has a consent to discharge to the environment needs to ensure that they comply with the conditions set out in their consent, and to maintain their systems properly to minimise any risk to the environment."
Hall and Woodhouse has now installed a new sewage treatment plant, which should improve the quality of its discharges.
The case was brought under section 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991.Hall and Woodhouse Ltd pleaded guilty to four charges brought under Sections 85(1) and 86(6) of the Water Resources Act 1991, and was fined £5,000 for each count. The court also ordered the company to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £2,315.30.
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