12/01/2006 - On Monday 9 January 2006, Edima Limited pleaded guilty at Burton-upon-Trent Magistrates to a charge of causing polluting matter, in this instance the liquid by-product of rotted potato peelings, to enter the Langley Brook.

The charge was brought by the Environment Agency under Section 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991. The company was fined £5000 and ordered to pay costs of £1175.36p.

Speaking after the case, Steve Fowler, an Environment Agency officer involved in the investigation, said: ‘Organic matter such as the by-product of rotted potato peelings can seriously damage water quality and affect wildlife if it gets into a watercourse. Therefore the company has a responsibility to ensure this does not get into the environment – it failed to do this, resulting in a costly and damaging pollution. We will not hesitate in taking action against those responsible for such pollutions.’

For the Environment Agency, Claire Andrews told the court that on 9 June 2005 an Environment Agency officer attended a stretch of the Langley Brook off London Road, Middleton near Tamworth.

He inspected the brook as it ran at the back of the premises of Edima Ltd, which processes potatoes. He found that bed of the brook was extensively covered in sewage fungus. He walked approximately 200m upstream and saw a pipe discharging a black liquid into the brook.

The officer had previously seen a lagoon located on Edima Ltd’s premises. It contained a black liquid and the liquid being discharged from the pipe had the same smell as the one being stored in the lagoon.

Samples were taken of discharge and the brook up and downstream of the discharge. No sewage fungus was seen upstream of the discharge. Later testing of these samples indicated low oxygen and high ammonia levels.

The officer inspected the lagoons on the Edima Ltd site and found that the one containing the black liquid had an outlet pipe which ran into the fields next to it and towards the Langley Brook.

The Environment Agency officer checked plans for the drainage system and it became apparent that the field which the drain fed into contained numerous land drains.

On 12 June 2005, the Environment Agency officer returned to the site. The pipe seen discharging on 9 June 2005 had been blocked off and no discharge was seen. On 21 June 2005 a further inspection was carried out and again no discharge was seen and the brook was seen to be unpolluted.

In mitigation Andrew Louka, Director, said that the company had always
followed Environment Agency recommendations regarding improvements and had invested in improvements to their operating systems to prevent a recurrence.