05/09/2005 - An Avonmouth-based
chemical company that allowed acid to leak
into a river killing fish has been ordered
to pay £16,000 in fines and costs. The
case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Environment Agency officers were called to
the Kings Weston Lane pond on July 19, 2004
after a report of dead fish at the site.
The officer found ten dead carp and several
smaller fish. Reeds surrounding the pond were
coloured brown up to a height of around a
half a metre. Weeds and other vegetation under
the water had turned black. The pH measurement
of the pond was highly acidic.
Similar effects were found on vegetation
for two kilometres upstream on the rhine to
the Rhodia Organique Fine Limited chemical
plant.
The following day Rhodia confirmed that they
had found a leak of hydrofluoric acid and
had already begun pumping water from the Kings
Weston Rhine back to their effluent treatment
plant.
As a precaution Bristol City Council and
the Health Protection Agency were informed.
An incident room was opened in Bridgwater,
Kings Weston Lane was closed to the public
and Rhodia began to take contaminated water
from the pond and rhine back to their site
in tankers to be treated.
It took 20 days of tankering off the contaminated
water for the pH in the Kings Weston Rhine
to return to normal levels.
The spill occurred after a valve on a pipe
leading from the effluent treatment plant
dropped off due to poor maintenance. The company
has now installed a pH probe at the outfall
to alert staff to any problems and a walk-by
programme of visual checks on the pipeline
network.
Appearing before Bristol Crown Court, last
Friday (September 2), for sentancing, Rhodia
Organique Fine Limited of Oak House, Reeds
Crescent, Watford, Hertfordshire, were fined
a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay
£6,000 costs.
At an earlier hearing the company pleaded
guilty to two offences under the Water Resources
Act 1991 and Environmental Protection Act
11000 including causing poisonous, noxious
or polluting matter to enter controlled waters,
The Kings Weston Rhine and failing to maintain
in good operating condition all plant, equipment
and technical means used in carrying out an
authorised process.
‘The effect of this leak was devastating.
A fisheries survey carried out showed that
all the fish had been killed and a dead coot
was found on site several days later. The
level of hydrofluoric acid was eighteen times
the amount needed to kill a stickleback. The
plant life was decimated and the pond’s use
as a community fishing pool was affected,’
said Sara Galpin for the Environment Agency.
‘The company didn’t notice the problem until
we brought it to their attention. Low pH kills
fish by damaging the gill surfaces. Any company
that manufactures such highly dangerous chemicals
should have anticipated the possibility of
such a leak and implemented far more stringent
checks.’
The Environment Agency’s free 24 hour hotline
for reporting environmental incidents is 0800
80 70 60.
