Thames Water Utilities pleads guilty

Thames Water Utilities Ltd pleaded guilty to abstracting water from the Duke of Northumberland's River without a licence between 1 January 1993 and 24 February 1999. The company was fined the maximum penalty of £5000 and ordered to pay £700 legal costs to the Agency at Brentford Magistrates' Court, on Friday 16 July 1999. The prosecution was brought under Section 24(1)(a) of the Water Resources Act 1991.

Thames Water has historically abstracted water from the Duke of Northumberland's River since the 1930s for cooling water at Mogden Sewage Works, Isleworth. When licensing was introduced (under the Water Resources Act 1963), Thames would have been entitled to a licence of right. They did not obtain this and should have applied for an abstraction licence for this use. Matters were allowed to drift until 1990 when an application form was sent to Thames Water - although never returned. Subsequent application forms were sent to Thames Water in 1993 and again in 1996. Although the indication was that Thames Water would eventually submit a completed application to the Agency, this was not done and a summons was finally issued on 14 May 1999. Since the issue of the summons, an application has been received and is being processed by the Agency.

Agency officer Tom Atkinson said: "One of our main concerns in this case is that without adequate measuring by Thames Water, we were unable to tell how much water they were withdrawing from this river. It is unacceptable for anyone to abstract water without a licence, regardless of the length of time they may have been doing this in the past. In this instance, the Agency gave them several opportunities to regularise the situation."

JOINT OPERATION RESULTS IN WASTE FINES

A joint operation between the Environment Agency, Metropolitan Police and London Borough of Lambeth resulted in Mr Laurence Michael Rossiter of Atwater Close, Tulse Hill, SW2 being fined £200 at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on 14 July for flytipping.He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to the London Borough of Lambeth, and £40 in prosecution costs to the Crown Prosecution Service, who brought the prosecution to court.Mr Martin Joseph Davis of Hayes Court, New Park Road SW2, who failed to appear in court for the same alleged offence, had a warrant issued for his arrest.

It was decided to mount a joint operation because both defendants were accused of collecting waste from builders around Lambeth and then tipping it around the Borough. Tim Bird, Enforcement Officer at the Environment Agency, who gave evidence in court commented: 'By working closely with our colleagues in the police and the London Borough of Lambeth, we were able to deal effectively with Mr Davis and Mr Rossiter, who were beginning to cost the local authority a lot of money in clear-ups.'

CONDITIONAL DISCHARGES HANDED OUT FOR WASTE OFFENCES

Ian Preston of High Street, and Geoffrey Troth of Downs Farm, both of Blockley, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on 20 July 1999 to waste offences. They were both given Conditional Discharges for a year and both ordered to pay £277.50 in legal costs to the Environment Agency.

On 1st October 1998 Environment Agency Officers went to the Batsford Estate, Moreton-in-March, Gloucestershire, after receiving a complaint from a member of the public. They found waste consisting of carpets, doors, chairs, packaging, bottles of bleach and developing fluid, some dental equipment and correspondence linking the waste to a Shipston Dental Practice in Sheep Street, Shipston on Stour. Following enquiries it was found that Mr Preston, a dentist and a partner in the Shipston Dental Practice, had on 26 September 1998 paid Mr Troth £40 to dispose of waste from the dental practice. He did not check that Mr Troth was registered to carry waste. Mr Troth admitted that he took the waste to Bourton Quarry on the Batsford Estate, where it was dumped. The Quarry does not have a waste management licence in force authorising waste to be deposited there. Mr Troth works for the Batsford Estate and used the Estate's van to collect the waste.

David Rounding, Environment Protection Officer with the Environment Agency, said: "The disposal of waste without the correct authorisation is a serious offence and action will be taken against anyone doing this. If you give waste to someone else, you must ensure that they are authorised to take it and that they can transport, recycle or dispose of it lawfully." He also said: "We rely heavily on members of the public informing us of incidents such as this. We have a free Emergency Hotline number 0800 807060, which is operated 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Help us to protect the environment by reporting incidents."

Mr Preston pleaded guilty to failing in his duty of care as a producer of waste, under section 34(1) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, when he transferred it to an unauthorised person for disposal. Mr Troth pleaded guilty, under section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to depositing waste at Bourton Quarry.

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY PROSECUTES THE HONEYWAGON COMPANY FOR DISCHARGING WASTE INTO THE SEWAGE SYSTEM WITHOUT CONSENT

Facing charges relating to the same series of incidents, John Leonard Dicks (trading as the Honeywagon Company), Mark Pattendon and Bernard Soyer all pleaded guilty to offences relating to the depositing of sewage waste into the foul sewer without a waste management license or discharge consent from Thames Water Plc. The hearing took place at St. Albans Magistrates Court on 28 June 1999 and the prosecution was brought under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 33(1)(a).

An investigation was launched by the Agency after public complaints of foul smells emanating from the sewage system. One witness was regularly woken early in the morning by foul smells strong enough to make her feel nauseous. She was advised to keep a diary of incidents to help the officers in planning the subsequent observations. These began on 24 October 1998 when officers at the premises (at the Burrowfield Industrial Estate, Welwyn Garden City) saw a tanker in the yard with a pipe leading from the back of the tanker into the drainage system. No one was with the vehicle. On 10 November a tanker was again found in the yard and on this occasion Mr Soyer admitted to pouring 200 gallons of sewage waste into the drain. The smells stopped abruptly as soon as the defendant was challenged about the practice. Mr Pattendon was named as the driver of the vehicle found on the 24th, and Mr Dicks was prosecuted as the person in charge of the vehicle on both dates. Mr Dicks was fined £500 for each of the two offences with £465 costs. Mr Pattendon was fined £200 for the offence on 24.10.98 with £232 costs. Mr Soyer was fined £200 for the offence on 10.11.98 and ordered to pay £232 costs. This brings the total to £2329 for both incidents.

Ian Lockyer, investigating officer for the Agency said: "Honeywagon was licensed to dispose of waste at the local sewage works however they began pouring waste into a domestic foul sewer for which they had no licence. It was this activity that caused the very powerful smells that upset the local residents. Companies must understand that we will always seek to prosecute when they operate outside the scope of their waste disposal licences."

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY PROSECUTES OWNER OF AMENITY SITE FOR ILLEGAL STORAGE OF WASTE MATERIALS

The Environment Agency has prosecuted Roger Irwing for keeping 350 m3 of controlled waste at his premises at Marlow Road, Marlow without a waste management licence. Irwing pleaded guilty and was fined £3,500.00 with £850.00 at Wycombe Magistrates Court on 14 July 1999. The prosecution was brought under section 33(1)(b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The waste, consisting of assorted scrap metals, washing machines, cookers, fridges, electric cable, tyres and bags of textiles was discovered following a lead from the County Council about suspected waste offences at the site. When interviewed by Agency officers, Irwing - who stated he had run the High Heavens civic amenity site for over 17 years - admitted that during the last two years he had moved large quantities of scrap metal from the site to his own land in Marlow. He claimed to have done this to avoid thefts of scrap metal.

Andy Bee, investigating officer for the Environment Agency said: "The illegal storage of waste material poses a continuing threat to the environment and the Agency will always seek to prosecute those it finds responsible. We are often given valuable help from the public so we would ask anyone who sees anything they suspect to be harming the environment to contact the Environment Agency's Emergency Hotline on 0800 80 70 60."

COMPANY FINED £50,000 FOR RELEASING SOLVENT INTO THE ATMOSPHERE

Croda Resins Limited of Crabtree Manorway South, Belverdere, Kent, was fined a total of £50,000 at Croydon Crown Court on 2 July 1999, following a prosecution by the Environment Agency. They were also ordered to pay the Agency's costs of £6,085.

The company, which produces synthetic resins for the paint industry, was prosecuted for breaking the conditions of their Agency's authorisation to discharge to the air, and for not taking adequate precautions to prevent this. The first hearing took place on 20 May at Bexley Magistrates' Court. The company pleaded guilty on two counts, one for breach of condition of their Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) Authorisation and the other for not operating the process in accordance with Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Costs (BATNEEC). The magistrates, having heard details of the events and the serious nature of the incident, decided to refer the case for sentencing at Croydon Crown Court.

On Friday 2 July the judge at Croydon Crown Court concluded his summing-up by stating that he considered this instance was '... a serious breach of the provisions of the Act,' and it was '...pure chance that no further harm to people or children in the locality had occurred.'

On 12 October 1998 1.94 tonnes of solvent was discharged into the air, during a two-hour period. This was approximately 1100 times the permitted amount during this period. Neighbouring factory workers and the owner of a local café, affected by the discharge, complained to the local council and directly to Croda Resins Limited. They said they were suffering from a number of symptoms, including nausea, headaches, dry eyes, sinus pain, sore throats, faintness and tightening of the bronchial tubes. Had the wind blown in a different direction a residential area, including a primary school, would have been affected. The synthetic resins are made by using a production process which relies on condensing gaseous hydrocarbons back into liquid form. On this occasion the water valve was closed, so there was no water to enable condensation to take place. Nor was there any alarm to warn operators that the water valve was closed.

Colin Chiverton, PIR Inspector with the Environment Agency, said: "The level of fine indicates the seriousness of the release as well as giving the message that BATNEEC has to be rigorously applied to any process. Companies should no longer ignore the obligations placed on them by BATNEEC. They need to continuously implement, upgrade and improve safety measures to prevent, minimise and render harmless their releases to the environment."

The company was fined £35,000 for the release of 1.94 tonnes of solvent whilst in breach of a condition of their IPC Authorisation and £15,000 for operating the process whilst not complying with BATNEEC, making a total of £50,000 in fines.