We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
12/09/2006
Emergency procedures swung into action at a sewage treatment works as illegal discharges caused environmental consequences, a court was told.
And the company that caused the works to fail pleaded guilty before magistrates at Middlesbrough and was ordered to pay £10,154.65 in fines and costs.
KP Foods United Biscuits of Macklin Avenue, Cowpen Industrial Estate, Billingham, admitted five offences of discharging trade effluent without a consent contrary to the Water Industry Act of 1991.
Solicitor Paul Kelly, prosecuting on behalf of Northumbrian Water, told the court that operators at its sewage treatment works at Billingham spotted fatty material entering the works on four occasions in January this year and once later on in May.
“Large lumps of fat entered the sewers which in turn inundated the sewage works and caused it to fail. Flows had to be diverted to emergency storm tanks to enable the oil and grease to be dealt with,” said Mr Kelly.
An investigation revealed that oil and starch was being discharged to a surface water drain connecting to the public sewer when it should have gone through KP’s own treatment on site to remove oil and other matter before reaching the sewerage system.
Analysis showed oil levels in the discharge on one occasion to be 48 times over the legal limit and on another occasion 55 times over the limit.
The crisps and snacks manufacturer told the court that it had now repaired an underground pipe that had fractured and it had tightened up procedures to avoid a repetition.
Magistrates fined KP £1,000 for each of the five offences the company admitted and ordered it to pay an additional £5,145.65 costs when it appeared before the court on Monday 11 September.