26/04/2005 - A Devon farmer
was today ordered to pay £1,000 in fines
and costs for polluting a river with pig slurry.
The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Environment Agency officers visited Langford
Court Farm on August 27, 2004 after receiving
a tip-off that the River Clyst was polluted.
They noticed green slurry liquid running in
a ditch under the road near the farm.
The slurry was traced back to a drain that
bypassed the farm’s slurry treatment system
and discharged straight into a tributary of
the River Clyst.
Slurry from the pig yard run-off should have
been directed through the pipework to a treatment
system involving three settlement pits which
in turn drained into a final storage lagoon.
From there the treated slurry should have
drained through the rest of the field to be
discharged at a consented discharge point
into the tributary
However, the slurry was leaking straight
out of the pipe, as a section of the pipework
had been removed and was lying on the ground
nearby.
Under interview Humphrey Chattey, who was
responsible for the pig production on the
farm, admitted removing the section of the
pipe on either June 22 or 23 in order to deal
with a blockage further up the system. Despite
unblocking the system, the section of pipe
was not replaced.
Undiluted pig slurry removes large amounts
of oxygen from a river and can seriously affect
water quality. A water sample taken downstream
of the illegal discharge at Langford Court
Farm showed a Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
of 143 mg/litre and ammonia levels of 20.2
mg/litre. This compares with a BOD of 2440
mg/litre and ammonia level of 275 mg/litre
for raw slurry. The incident had a significant
impact on water quality in the tributary.
Appearing before Cullompton magistrates today,
Humphrey Chattey. 55, of Langford Court, Clyst
Hydon, Cullompton, was fined £500 and
ordered to pay £500 costs after pleading
guilty to causing noxious, poisonous and polluting
matter, namely pig slurry, to enter a tributary
of the River Clyst, contrary to section 85
(1) and (6) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
"There is no reasonable explanation
why Mr Chattey failed to put the pipe back.
The results were serious, and we hope this
acts as a warning to other farmers that under
similar circumstances there is no excuse,"
said Samantha Oman for the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency’s free 24 hour hotline
for reporting environmental incidents is 0800
80 70 60.
