Firm fined for damaging water quality with organic waste

A renewable energy firm has been fined £5,000 following environmental analysis of a stream in the Hay Green area of Terrington St Clement.

Environment Agency chiefs discovered that CH4 Power had leaked "rich brown-coloured water" into the waterway over a period of two months.

The organisation said that the water quality had been damaged by the liquid, which was believed to have derived from a stockpile of onions.

Inspectors said that the firm had not implemented a sufficient drainage system and parts of the stream had actually turned black.

Environment Agency officer David Batterham suggested that vegetable matter can be "hundreds of times more polluting" than sewage.

"It takes very little of this sort of material to completely decimate our streams and rivers," he remarked.

The company was found to be in breach of the Water Resources Act of 1991, which was originally enforced by the National Rivers Authority, but is now upheld by the Environment Agency.

Posted by Joseph Hutton