United Utilities fined £600k for toxic spill
21 Jul 2016
United Utilities Water (UU) has been fined £600,000 after a highly corrosive bleach was released into a brook in Bolton.
The company's contractor, KMI Plus, was also fined an additional £333,000 after a 1.7km stretch of the brook leading towards Jumbles Reservoir was so badly polluted that almost all aquatic organisms died.
The accidental release happened in 2013 after KMI was contracted by UU to carry out improvement works at Wayoh water treatment works at Turton Bottoms, said the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.
This case should bring home the message to all company directors and shareholders that environmental offences are taken seriously both by the regulators and the courts
Gordon Whitaker, the Environment Agency’s environment manager
Bolton Crown Court heard that as part of the works, KMI had emptied and removed a tank that had been used to store sodium hypochlorite in 10% solution.
As the principle ingredient of household bleach, sodium hypochlorite is used in the water purification process and is both corrosive and highly toxic to aquatic organisms.
Although the majority of the tank’s contents had been removed, up to 300 litres of the highly toxic chemical had been left in the bottom.
The Environment Agency said that instead of pumping or siphoning the remaining liquid out, a decision was taken to put a hosepipe into the tank and dilute the sodium hypochlorite with water, letting it overflow into a bunded area, with the hosepipe left unattended overnight.
The court heard that this was carried out without any risk assessment or method statement, and the companies were not in agreement on what they understood had been agreed prior to the removal taking place.
The Environment Agency said neither company had surveyed the drainage adequately and did not realise there were faults in the drainage system. This had meant that the diluted toxic chemical entered the surface water drainage system and discharged to a trout spawning ground in Bradshaw Brook.
The Environment Agency was alerted after a member of the public saw dead fish floating in the water. Up to 900 dead fish were recovered from the site, with the number killed believed to be much greater.
"This was a serious and avoidable pollution incident caused by the negligence of both parties," said Gordon Whitaker, environment manager at the Environment Agency.
“This case should bring home the message to all company directors and shareholders that environmental offences are taken seriously both by the regulators and the courts.“
Both UU and KMI pleaded guilty and co-operated with the prosecution, and in 2014 the brook had recovered sufficiently for restocking, which UU paid for.
The companies were also ordered to pay a total of £45,262 in costs.
