04/04/2005 - Anglian Water
Services has been fined £6,500 and ordered
to pay £1,814 costs by Thetford magistrates
after pleading guilty to breaching the Water
Resources Act of 1991 by allowing sewage to
get into a stream.
A passer-by saw the sewage overflowing from
a manhole and running into the stream which
feeds the River Whittle at Banham, Norfolk
in January last year. He alerted the Environment
Agency which investigated.
They found a milky brown coloured liquid
which smelt of sewage had lifted the manhole
cover and flowed over agricultural land for
about 15 metres leaving silt and sediments
on the ground.
Downstream there was solid material, silt
and sediment with a large amount of sewage
fungus indicating that the pollution had been
going on for a long time. Tests showed that
the level of ammonia in the water was 20 times
higher than normal.
On investigation three days later, officers
found that in the 200 metres downstream there
was only one surviving Dysticid beetle, an
air-breathing invertebrate, which indicated
a severe lack of oxygen in the water.
Along this stretch there was an accumulation
of black organic silt and material indicating
that there had been intermittent pollution
from the manhole before.
A report concluded that the discharge from
the sewer caused severe though local pollution
to the Banham tributary of the River Whittle
and despite a clean-up by Anglian Water there
was still traces of sewage debris and black
septic silt in the 200 metre stretch.
Magistrates were told there was a history
of pollution from the manhole contaminating
the field and polluting the stream and as
a result of an earlier incident
in April 2003, Anglian Water had agreed to
routinely jet the section of gravity sewer
around the manhole. It appeared to investigating
officers that this had not been done.
Anglian Water Services admitted: On or about
20 January 2004 you did cause poisonous, noxious
or polluting matter to enter controlled waters,
namely a ditch tributary of the River Whittle
at Banham in the county of Norfolk.
Contrary to s85(1) Water Resources Act 1991.
After the hearing, investigating environment
agency officer John Harrison said: "This
incident shows that if sewer overflows are
not dealt with promptly the impact on small
watercourses can be significant. Sewage collection
companies should be more aware of the need
for regular maintenance; prevention is always
better than cure."
