First Milk apologises after 'discoloured discharge' released into river

First Milk has issued an apology after 'discoloured discharge' was released into a river from an effluent treatment plant.

The dairy co-operative said the discharge was released into the Cleddau river in Pembrokeshire for two hours on Saturday 22 July.

Heavy rain and "short-term operational" challenges were reasons why the incident occurred, it said.

The co-op, which reported the incident to Natural Resources Wales (NRW), said it was improving its filtration system at its Haverfordwest creamery.

First Milk said: “Due to the exceptionally high levels of rainfall on Saturday, combined with some short-term operational challenges, the plant was unable to cope adequately for a small period of time, which led to the short-term discoloration."

Shelagh Hancock, First Milk's chief executive, said in a separate statement that the co-op was working on "immediate changes" ensure a pollution incident would not happen again.

"This includes the installation of additional filtration mechanisms and we have stepped up our levels of monitoring of the treatment plant to ensure we are making positive and effective changes," she explained.

"There are many contributing factors that affect the water quality in the Western Cleddau, we are engaging with the local community and other organisations to understand what can be done more widely to improve the local environment in the long term.

"As a business that is committed to sustainability and to doing the right thing, we are taking these issues very seriously and are working hard to make things better."