Farmer ducked his duty
Highly polluting liquid waste from a duck rearing farm in Martham, Norfolk ran into a local watercourse putting the Trinity Broads Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at risk.
Robert Spinks of Charles Close, Acle, Norfolk pleaded guilty to causing the pollution in December last year and was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs by Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court today (Monday 4 September 2006).
It is the third conviction for Spinks for similar offences. The two other offences were committed in November 2000 and February 2001 for which he received two conditional discharges for 12 months and was ordered to pay £5,750 costs.
He had also been sent a Works Notice in November 2001 requiring him to take measures to prevent further pollution and despite this, in February 2003 and November 2005 formal warning letters were sent following further pollution incidents.
In December 2005 liquid waste overflowed from a lagoon on Old Mushroom Farm in White Street, Martham into an adjacent field where it formed a huge pool. The liquid in the pool then ran into a surface water drain and into Martham Town Drain.
The drain feeds into Chapman Dyke which in turn flows into Ormesby Broad, part of the Trinity Broads designated as a SSSI and home to many nationally rare or scarce invertebrates and nationally important species of breeding waterfowl.
Water samples taken by an Environment Agency officer where the waste ran into the drain had ammonia levels higher than the scale of the test kit.
The officer took three further samples from the drain itself and found that at the discharge point the level of ammonia was 373 mg per litre and even one kilometre downstream was still 12.2 mg per litre, which is still high enough to have a toxic effect on aquatic life. Levels normally found in water are less than 1mg/l.
As well as ammonia, the level of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) was very high at the discharge point where there was a reading of 1,390 mg per litre. Crude sewage has a range of measurement between 250 and 400 mg per litre and typically clean water has a level of less than 3mg per litre.
BOD is a measure of the biologically degradable substances in a watercourse. It is important because as the organic substance breaks down, oxygen is removed from the watercourse. The higher the measurement, the more polluting its effect on the watercourse and at high levels aquatic life can suffocate.
Spinks admitted that on or about 19 December 2005 he caused poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled waters, namely a tributary of Ormesby Broad near Martham, Norfolk, contrary to section 85(1) and section 85(6) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
When interviewed he told the investigating officer that the escape of the liquid waste was caused by excessive rain and that a road built by the council round the back of his property has caused more water to come onto the premises. In order to prevent the problem he said he had the waste tankered out regularly. But when he was asked to read through his interview with the officer and sign it, he refused.
After the hearing Environment Agency officer Nikki Collins said: "I hope that this prosecution will send out an effective message to all farmers to ensure that their drainage systems are designed appropriately in order to prevent the pollution of nearby watercourses.
"If the right work is done I am optimistic that our rivers and broads will be better protected from the potential devastation that a pollution such as this one can cause."
