Post by Hoppy on Apr 5, 2006 18:59:45 GMT -1
Welsh Water fined £2,000 for polluting Teifi tributary
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has been fined £2,000 for causing crude untreated sewage to leak from a combined sewer overflow and enter the Afon Duar, a tributary of the River Teifi at Llanybydder, Carmarthenshire. The incident, in October 2005 resulted in the death of more than 300 fish. The company, which pleaded guilty at Carmarthen Magistrates’ Court on Monday 3 April 2006 was also ordered to pay costs of £2,304 to Environment Agency Wales who brought the prosecution.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water pleaded guilty to
· Causing polluting matter to enter controlled waters, namely the Afon Duar at Llanybydder, contrary to Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991. Fined £1,500.
and
· Causing to flow into waters containing fish, namely the Afon Duar at Llanybydder, certain liquid or solid matter to such an extent as to cause the said waters to be poisonous or injurious to fish or the food of fish contrary to Section 4 of the Salmon and Freshwater
Fisheries Act 1975. Fined £500.
On the evening of Friday 7 October 2005, the Agency received a telephone call from a member of the public reporting numerous dead fish in the Afon Duar at Llanybydder. Agency officers attended the scene and saw dead fish in the Duar for a distance of pproximately
300 meters, near Llanybydder RFC sports fields. A pipe was also observed discharging into the stream. This was later identified as a combined sewer overflow, which is a Dwr Cymru Welsh Water asset.
Carmarthenshire County Council act on behalf of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as sewer operatives on the affected sewer line, and, once the incident had been reported to them, council staff visited the area. They requested a drain-jetting unit, to attempt to unblock the
sewer. Within minutes of a jetting tanker arriving at the location, the blockage was cleared, restoring the sewer to its normal operating condition.
Speaking after the case, Rhodri Thomas, Agency Environmental Crime Officer said: ‘We will continue to prosecute companies and individuals who cause considerable harm to the environment. This was an accidental discharge and the company through their agents acted quickly to bring the discharge to a halt.‘
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has been fined £2,000 for causing crude untreated sewage to leak from a combined sewer overflow and enter the Afon Duar, a tributary of the River Teifi at Llanybydder, Carmarthenshire. The incident, in October 2005 resulted in the death of more than 300 fish. The company, which pleaded guilty at Carmarthen Magistrates’ Court on Monday 3 April 2006 was also ordered to pay costs of £2,304 to Environment Agency Wales who brought the prosecution.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water pleaded guilty to
· Causing polluting matter to enter controlled waters, namely the Afon Duar at Llanybydder, contrary to Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991. Fined £1,500.
and
· Causing to flow into waters containing fish, namely the Afon Duar at Llanybydder, certain liquid or solid matter to such an extent as to cause the said waters to be poisonous or injurious to fish or the food of fish contrary to Section 4 of the Salmon and Freshwater
Fisheries Act 1975. Fined £500.
On the evening of Friday 7 October 2005, the Agency received a telephone call from a member of the public reporting numerous dead fish in the Afon Duar at Llanybydder. Agency officers attended the scene and saw dead fish in the Duar for a distance of pproximately
300 meters, near Llanybydder RFC sports fields. A pipe was also observed discharging into the stream. This was later identified as a combined sewer overflow, which is a Dwr Cymru Welsh Water asset.
Carmarthenshire County Council act on behalf of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as sewer operatives on the affected sewer line, and, once the incident had been reported to them, council staff visited the area. They requested a drain-jetting unit, to attempt to unblock the
sewer. Within minutes of a jetting tanker arriving at the location, the blockage was cleared, restoring the sewer to its normal operating condition.
Speaking after the case, Rhodri Thomas, Agency Environmental Crime Officer said: ‘We will continue to prosecute companies and individuals who cause considerable harm to the environment. This was an accidental discharge and the company through their agents acted quickly to bring the discharge to a halt.‘