Tank checks 'could protect water quality'

In a bid to safeguard river and drinking water quality, homeowners are being reminded to check their domestic oil tanks.

Oil leakages can pollute rivers and contaminate drinking water, as well as damage the ground, kill plants and harm other wildlife, according to the Environment Agency.

Dave Brogden from the organisation said that a significant number of the 3,500 oil pollution incidents the agency deals with each year are due to leaks and spills from domestic storage tanks.

"Oil is expensive and losing it through spillages is not only a costly waste and threat to the environment, but can also lead to prosecution," he stated.

In order to prevent such leaks, householders are urged to check their tanks and pipe work regularly and have their boilers, tanks and ancillary equipment inspected by an Oil Firing Technical Association (OFTEC) technician at least once yearly.

OFTEC recently teamed up with the ICOM Energy Association on a new biofuels research project.

Written by Claire Manning