Scottish Water fined over river pollution

Apr 4 2008 By John Rowbotham

SCOTTISH Water were last week fined £4000 for polluting a Lanarkshire river.

Sewage from one of the company’s treatment plants killed hundreds of fish in the Rotten Calder.

The effluent also had a serious effect on water quality in the river, which flows between East Kilbride and Blantyre.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court, Scottish Water admitted a charge under regulations designed to protect rivers and waterways.

As the company pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, the court was obliged to reduce the potential £6000 fine by a third.

The court was told the discharge came from the Allers Sewage Treatment Works, East Kilbride, and entered the Rotten Calder at the beginning of last year.

SEPA became aware of the incident when members of the public complained of a smell and discolouration of the Rotten Calder at General’s Bridge, Crossbasket, Blantyre.

Investigating officers detected a strong smell of sewage before they reached the burn and found the water to be “inky black”.

Further investigations revealed that a pump failure at the sewage works had resulted in a “substantial” sewage sludge spill.

As there was no stand-by pump available to take over at the works, sewage spilled into surface water drains and flowed into the Rotten Calder.

SEPA’s Iain Cruickshank, said: “This was a very serious pollution incident that had a significant impact on the watercourse and caused the Rotten Calder to be downgraded last year.

“A significant number of indigenous and migratory fish were killed by this incident and the pollution is also likely to have suffocated the fauna environment.”

He added: “What is especially concerning is that a similar sewage spill happened in 2006 yet it took this repeat offence to get the company to change their pollution control measures.

“This case caused a great deal of concern and could easily have been prevented if the correct procedures had been in place.”

Rob Mustard, Scottish Water’s regional manager for Lanarkshire, apologised for the discharge.

He added: “This was, regretfully, the result of a chain of events triggered by operator error at the Allers Waste Water Treatment Works.

“The previous incident at the works, which also resulted in pollution of the Rotten Calder in 2006, was caused by vandals who entered the works and opened a valve which caused a sewage spill.

“On both occasions, remedial work was carried out and procedures revised to prevent future pollution to the Rotten Calder Burn.”