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Prosecuted for polluting a river

What’s that smell?

When local residents smell sewage in their gardens, they’re unlikely to be impressed. In fact, they’ll probably be pretty annoyed about it. This is precisely what happened when the sewerage treatment system installed at the Yew Tree Inn, Berkshire, failed. Unfortunately for its neighbours, the treatment system was allowing “suspended solids” into controlled waters and a drainage ditch to a nearby tributary of the Penwood Stream.

Reported

Although the neighbours didn’t know the source of the pollution, a number of them contacted the Environment Agency’s (EA) pollution hotline to complain about it (see The next step). In response to the calls, the EA sent an investigation team to the site to identify what was happening. Quite quickly they identified the Inn as the source of the sewage.

Tip. Members of the public reporting pollution, smells, dumped waste etc. is how the EA finds out about many incidents. So if you’re doing anything that might upset neighbours, you should assume there’s a strong chance that your activities will be reported and possibly investigated.

Extent of the pollution

Although there was a discharge consent in place, analysis identified that it wasn’t being met; far from it. It was identified that the biological oxygen demand of the discharge was 59 times over the consented limit and suspended solids 23 times over. To prevent further discharges, a Water Resources Act s.90B enforcement notice was served. In addition to stopping the discharge, it stated that an engineer should be employed to fix the plant. However, the Yew Tree Inn failed to meet the conditions of the enforcement notice.

In court

The company’s board director, Andrew Parton(P), did make the point to the magistrate that an engineer had been employed and £80,000 spent on bringing the sewage treatment system up to scratch. However, because of the seriousness of the incident and the fact that a solution hadn’t been found, it was still fined. In total, the company had to pay £38,200. In addition, P was fined over £3,100 with £865 in costs. The reason for the personal prosecution was because the discharge consent was in his name, not the business’s.

Tip. If you have any kind of official permission granted by the EA, e.g. a discharge consent, an environmental permit etc., it’s vital that you keep checking that you’re complying with it. Not only will this flag up any problems, it will also show the EA that you’re doing all that’s possible.

Additional penalty

If you enter “Yew Tree Inn, Berkshire” into most Internet search engines, not only will you be presented with a link to its website, but just below you’ll see one to the EA site. Unfortunately for the Inn, this clearly states that it has been prosecuted for allowing sewage to pollute. So if potential customers were contemplating enjoying a meal there, they may think twice.

For a weblink to the EA’s pollution hotline, visit http://environment.indicator.co.uk (EN 05.02.04).