7-Apr-2006 - Soft drinks
manufacturer Cott Beverages Ltd (Cotts) was fined
by Pontefract Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 4
April, for organic pollution of the Wash Dike.
Cotts of Pontefract was ordered
to pay a £6,000 fine and £2,101 costs
to the Environment Agency, which brought the case.
The court heard that after carrying
out a routine inspection on June 14, 2004, Environment
Agency officers in the area of Wash Dike found
that the watercourse was dark in colour. They
investigated upstream from this point and found
a discharge into the watercourse. It was coming
from the roof of a culvert. The discharge was
purple, causing the water to foam and had a fruity
smell. The discharge was from Cotts and was effluent
from their drink making process.
The company said that no more
than 500 litres of effluent were discharged into
the Dike.
The incident occurred because
the company had been dealing with an incident
on site which needed effluent pumps to be turned
off. This caused the effluent to back up in the
drains. It then found its way through the wall
of the drain, into a surface water drain and then
into the Dike.
The Environment Agency’s Biological
Survey accepted that Wash Dike was already affected
by long term, moderate level, organic pollution,
but this incident had caused further pollution
to the Dike.
In mitigation, it was said that
at the time of the incident, Cotts had had a survey
of their drainage system. Cotts pleaded guilty
at the first hearing and had co-operated fully
with the Environment Agency throughout the investigation.
