20/03/2006
- A farm contracting company was today ordered to
pay £4,073 in fines and costs for polluting
a Somerset stream with milk waste.
On March 23, 2005, the Environment
Agency received a report of a pollution incident
at Peasmarsh Farm near Ilminster.
An Environment Agency officer
attended and found a milky brownish liquid draining
across a public cycle path and into a ditch. The
effluent, that had a strong sour odour, was coming
from an adjacent field where milk waste was being
spread on the land.
The ditch flowed into a tributary
of the River Isle, a high quality watercourse containing
salmon and trout. The Isle eventually flows across
the Somerset Moors and Levels through areas of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSI’s).
Subsequent tests showed a deterioration
in water quality downstream of the point where the
effluent drained from the field and into the ditch.
The pollution caused a drop in levels of dissolved
oxygen.
‘During my visit to the site I
saw a tractor continuing to carry out spreading
activities, even though the pollution in the ditch
was obvious. It became clear the waste spreading
operation was not being properly supervised,’ said
Ruth Hall for the Environment Agency.
Thirty-two tanker loads of milk
waste, each of approximately 5,500 gallons, were
spread on the land over two and a half days. This
amount of spreading coupled with heavy rainfall
led to overloading and resulted in effluent escaping
from the field.
Philip Trim Contractors of Blandford
Forum, Dorset, were today fined £2,000 by
Yeovil magistrates and ordered to pay £2,073
costs after pleading guilty to causing poisonous,
noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled
waters, namely a ditch tributary of the River Isle,
at Peasmarsh Farm, Ilminster on March 23, 2005 in
breach of Section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act.
