Post by Hoppy on Oct 19, 2005 12:07:13 GMT -1
Monmouthshire Farmer ordered to pay £20,000 after polluting the Olway Brook with slurry and farmyard run-off.
Polluting a brook with slurry and sewage has cost a Monmouthshire farmer £20,000. Allan Parry of Duffryn Farm, Llansoy, pleaded guilty to three charges at Abergavenny Magistrates' Court on 11 October 2005 in a prosecution brought by Environment Agency Wales.
Details of the charges and fines as follows:
Parry was also ordered to pay £5,000 in costs to the Agency.
The Court heard that on 26 February 2004, Environment Agency officers traced evidence of farmyard pollution to a ditch at Duffryn Farm. Discharges from the farm were also observed by Agency officers on 14 other occasions, the most serious of which resulted in the death of an estimated 2,100 fish.
Despite the Agency issuing a formal Notice to Parry, requiring him to carry out anti-pollution works at his farm, pollution of the Olway Brook continued.
Ross Hockley, an Agency Senior Environment Officer said after the case :
‘This was a significant pollution that had a chronic impact on the Olway Brook and we are pleased that this was recognised by the Court. We will always try to work co-operatively with farmers to prevent pollution. However, where our advice is consistently ignored we will not hesitate to use our powers to protect the environment.’
Another farmer fined for sheep dip pollution
A Ceredigion farmer was fined £200 at Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court this week (11.10.05) after pleading guilty to polluting local streams with cypermethrin sheep dip. Gerallt Humphries of Blaendyffryn Farm, Goginan was fined £200 for causing cypermethrin sheep dip to enter the Afon Melindwr and its tributary the Nant Brwyno. He was also ordered to pay £300 legal costs to Environment Agency Wales, which brought the prosecution.
The Court was told that an investigation on the Afon Melindwr in October 2004 had identified low numbers of invertebrates, the food that fish live on. There was a total absence of any invertebrate species sensitive to sheep dip pollution. Further investigations established that a total of 3 kilometres of both the Melindwr and a tributary, the Nant Brywno were affected. The source of the pollution was traced to Blaendyffryn Farm where a flock of approximately 200 sheep had been treated earlier in the Summer. The pollution is believed to have occurred because of sheep dip chemical falling from the sheep as they were being taken to pasture via a bridge over the Nant Brwyno.
Speaking after the case, Gareth the Agency’s local Environment Management team leader said: 'This case demonstrates how important it is that farmers and contractors take great care to prevent the escape of any amount of sheep dip chemical before, during and after sheep treatment onto any areas which can drain into streams and rivers.
'If using cypermethrin based dips, extremely high standards of management must be followed. Farmers need to carefully select sites where mobile units are used to ensure that all of the chemical dripping from the fleece will be captured by a sealed drainage system, farm yards or lanes are likely to be completely unsuitable. Then freshly treated sheep must be kept out from streams and watercourses until their fleece is completely dry, even if this means corralling sheep in fenced-off areas provided with drinking water.
'The toxicity of these sheep dips to the aquatic environment means that even a few drops can cause a severe environmental effect over kilometres of streams and rivers.
'We will be monitoring our streams and rivers during the current dipping season, and we will be able to identify any incidents of sheep dip pollution and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate. I would ask farmers and sheep dip contractors to follow the guidance available in the ‘Defra Code of Practice Use and disposal of Sheep Dip compounds’, which is available from Defra or local Agency offices.'
For info the Melindwr is a spawning redd of the Rheidol!
Polluting a brook with slurry and sewage has cost a Monmouthshire farmer £20,000. Allan Parry of Duffryn Farm, Llansoy, pleaded guilty to three charges at Abergavenny Magistrates' Court on 11 October 2005 in a prosecution brought by Environment Agency Wales.
Details of the charges and fines as follows:
- Causing pollution of the Olway Brook in breach of Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991 (WRA '91). Fined £9,000.
- Causing pollution of the Olway Brook in breach of Section 4(1) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. Fined £2,000.
- Breaching an Anti-Pollution Works Notice served on him by Environment Agency Wales, after he failed to take action to stop the polluting discharges from his farm. This is an offence under Section 161 of WRA '91). Fined £4,000.
Parry was also ordered to pay £5,000 in costs to the Agency.
The Court heard that on 26 February 2004, Environment Agency officers traced evidence of farmyard pollution to a ditch at Duffryn Farm. Discharges from the farm were also observed by Agency officers on 14 other occasions, the most serious of which resulted in the death of an estimated 2,100 fish.
Despite the Agency issuing a formal Notice to Parry, requiring him to carry out anti-pollution works at his farm, pollution of the Olway Brook continued.
Ross Hockley, an Agency Senior Environment Officer said after the case :
‘This was a significant pollution that had a chronic impact on the Olway Brook and we are pleased that this was recognised by the Court. We will always try to work co-operatively with farmers to prevent pollution. However, where our advice is consistently ignored we will not hesitate to use our powers to protect the environment.’
Another farmer fined for sheep dip pollution
A Ceredigion farmer was fined £200 at Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court this week (11.10.05) after pleading guilty to polluting local streams with cypermethrin sheep dip. Gerallt Humphries of Blaendyffryn Farm, Goginan was fined £200 for causing cypermethrin sheep dip to enter the Afon Melindwr and its tributary the Nant Brwyno. He was also ordered to pay £300 legal costs to Environment Agency Wales, which brought the prosecution.
The Court was told that an investigation on the Afon Melindwr in October 2004 had identified low numbers of invertebrates, the food that fish live on. There was a total absence of any invertebrate species sensitive to sheep dip pollution. Further investigations established that a total of 3 kilometres of both the Melindwr and a tributary, the Nant Brywno were affected. The source of the pollution was traced to Blaendyffryn Farm where a flock of approximately 200 sheep had been treated earlier in the Summer. The pollution is believed to have occurred because of sheep dip chemical falling from the sheep as they were being taken to pasture via a bridge over the Nant Brwyno.
Speaking after the case, Gareth the Agency’s local Environment Management team leader said: 'This case demonstrates how important it is that farmers and contractors take great care to prevent the escape of any amount of sheep dip chemical before, during and after sheep treatment onto any areas which can drain into streams and rivers.
'If using cypermethrin based dips, extremely high standards of management must be followed. Farmers need to carefully select sites where mobile units are used to ensure that all of the chemical dripping from the fleece will be captured by a sealed drainage system, farm yards or lanes are likely to be completely unsuitable. Then freshly treated sheep must be kept out from streams and watercourses until their fleece is completely dry, even if this means corralling sheep in fenced-off areas provided with drinking water.
'The toxicity of these sheep dips to the aquatic environment means that even a few drops can cause a severe environmental effect over kilometres of streams and rivers.
'We will be monitoring our streams and rivers during the current dipping season, and we will be able to identify any incidents of sheep dip pollution and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate. I would ask farmers and sheep dip contractors to follow the guidance available in the ‘Defra Code of Practice Use and disposal of Sheep Dip compounds’, which is available from Defra or local Agency offices.'
For info the Melindwr is a spawning redd of the Rheidol!
