11/04/2005 - A leading
UK house building company was fined £15,000
on Friday 1 April for allowing silt to enter
a ditch tributary of the River Lee and the
River Lee, in Stanstead Abbots, Hertfordshire.
Rialto Homes Limited, pleaded guilty at Harlow
Magistrates’ Court and were ordered to pay
a fine of £15,000 and the Environment
Agency’s costs of £1,664.38, after they
breached the Water Resources Act 1991, allowing
silt to pollute the tributary and the river
on March 11 2004.
With the construction site located on the
floodplain, Rialto Homes Ltd had to drain
excess water away from the site during the
building of The Granary development off Hoddesdon
Road, Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire in
March 2004. But the settlement tanks were
unable to deal with the volume of silty water
and allowed silt-laden water to be pumped
into a ditch which feeds the River Lee.
An environment officer visited the site on
March 8 2004 after a member of the public
made a complaint about the quality of the
water in the ditch.
The officer found that although filtration
units were in place these were inadequate,
allowing silt-laden water from the site to
be discharged into the ditch. The environment
officer informed Rialto Homes that they needed
a discharge consent to pump water into the
ditch and that only clean, unpolluted water
could be pumped into a river. It was agreed
that additional ‘silt traps’ in the form of
hay bales were to be put in place and Rialto
were again reminded by a letter from the Environment
Agency the following day that under no circumstances
was polluting matter to enter the ditch.
But on March 11 a member of the public again
informed the Environment Agency that brown
water was entering the River Lee. An environment
officer traced the flow upstream to the Rialto
site where he saw silt laden water being discharged
from a pump into the ditch.
Although actual harm had not been assessed,
the potential for harm could not be discounted.
Any work mobilising silt is potentially polluting
and can cause long lasting damage to river
life. It can clog the gills of fish suffocating
them, smother spawning sites and insects habitats
on the riverbed removing a source of food
for fish. Silt can cover the leaves of aquatic
plants, limiting their growth and a build
up of silt can cause blockages and lead to
flooding.
Russell Fitzpatrick, prosecuting lawyer for
the Environment Agency, said: “The fine imposed
sends a clear message to construction companies
that environmental matters must be core to
their business values. The Environment Agency
provides free pollution prevention guidance
to businesses, full details of which are available
on our website. As the guidance indicates,
construction companies must take all possible
steps to ensure that mud and silt do not escape
from their development sites and foul our
watercourses. Apart from being unsightly,
it has a detrimental effect on the environment.”
Members of the public can report environmental
incidents to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour
emergency hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
