Three Polluters to Pay £ 234,000

River Blackwater Polluted

Important safety guidelines on how to treat a spilt chemical were largely ignored by three organisations, leading to the death of thousands of fish and long term damage to the River Blackwater.

It is also estimated that the pollution caused by TriButyl Tin Oxide (TBTO) wiped out tens of thousands of the fry of at least 12 species and the river in Essex may take years to recover.

Industrial, commercial, riparian and public uses of these waters have been affected by the pollution and almost four years later the biology and chemistry of the river has still not returned to its original state.

A commercial shellfishery in the Blackwater Estuary was closed due to the incident and TBTO levels in some of the smaller tributaries of the river are still above the Environmental Quality Standard, a recognisably acceptable level.

Braintree District Council pleaded guilty after legal submission at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday (Tues) of causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter (comprising or containing TriButyl Tin Oxide) to enter controlled waters, namely the River Blackwater and its tributaries at Coggeshall, Essex between 13 July 2002 and 31 August 2002.

Woodland International Transport Co Ltd and Rentokil Initial UK Ltd both pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court at an earlier hearing to the same charge.

Yesterday (Wed (21 June) Braintree DC was fined £ 50,000 and ordered to pay £ 38,000 costs and the other two defendants were each fined £ 40,000 and ordered to pay £ 33,000 costs.

The Foods Standards Agency and Maldon District Council both stepped in to ensure the pollution did not have an impact on areas for which they are responsible.

The events began on the morning of 13 July at the Anglia Cargo Terminal site at Coggeshall when a forklift truck driver working for Woodland, was loading drums and other freight onto a lorry.

One drum became punctured and the chemical spilled out. The lorry was moved uphill to try to contain the spill but it is believed that some fluid entered the yard.

A Dangerous Goods Note and Transport Emergency Card relating to the containers gave strict details on what to do in the case of a spill. These included not using a water jet, not flushing with water and avoiding if possible water running into sewers.

TBTO is highly toxic (specifically fish toxic) and spills should only be handled by people wearing protective clothing. The emergency services should be called in the event of a spill and the police should be informed if the chemical enters a watercourse or sewer or has been spilt on soil or vegetation.

The specialist chemicals supply company was contacted which, as well as supplying a copy of the Material Safety Data Sheet, also sent a covering page spelling out recommended methods of dealing with such spillages.

In particular the documentation stated that there was a risk of serious damage to health from prolonged exposure through inhalation and if swallowed, irritating to eyes and skin, readily absorbed through skin and toxic to aquatic organisms possibly causing long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.

Advice was to evacuate the area and absorb the spill on sand or vermiculite and place in closed containers for disposal.

The fire services and Environment Agency were called to the cargo terminal site. Fire fighters in protective clothing dealt with the spill with a dry agent and handed the site back to the occupiers to arrange for specialist decontamination.

Woodland told the court that when the drum was punctured by the forklift truck, the spill was largely confined to the container in which the drum was being shipped and they had placed sand bags around the drains on the site before the fire services arrived.

Rentokil was brought in to deal with the decontamination but neither of the two men who arrived had qualifications relating to hazardous chemical spills.

They washed the yard and lorry with water using hoses for about 10 hours with no attempt to stop the water from running into the drainage system or into any watercourse and they had very limited information about the drainage system at the site. Representatives from Woodland witnessed the hosing operation.

Rentokil Hygiene issued a certificate two days later stating that the contaminated areas had been cleared of all related risks and were safe to work with. A risk assessment was also completed stating that there was no risk to animals in the area.

Rentokil told the court that the officer who accepted the clean-up contract understood that in some way the chemical had been neutralised.

The Environment Agency told the Court that neither Woodland nor Rentokil acted properly on information on the correct treatment of the spillage, despite having available comprehensive notes to follow.

None of the three companies informed the emergency services that TBTO had got into the drains, nor did they have an appropriate risk assessment for the treatment of the spillage.

Two days after the spill a member of the public reported seeing dead fish in a stream at the bottom of their garden and called the Environment Agency. An investigation uncovered more dead fish upstream, including at the back of St Peter’s Church of England primary school, Coggeshall.

An investigation later showed that the fish mortality was due to toxicity associated with TBTO. Tests showed that the chemical had entered the stream on the day of the spill approximately two days earlier.

Braintree District Council’s involvement began in August when they were called to the site to clear out the drainage system at the request of CCS Groupex who leased the Anglia Cargo Terminal site at Priors Way, Coggeshall and was in overall charge of the site being responsible, in particular, for the drainage system.

The company sub-let part of the site to Woodland International Transport Ltd.

Using a tanker the council cleaned the gullies and catch pit removing the solids and draining the water back to where it had come from. Some pinkish residue was noticed in three of the drains but no special arrangements were made for waste disposal or for taking samples of the collected silt.

The tanker was subsequently impounded by the Environment Agency and emptied. Samples were taken which showed that the sediment had a high concentration of TBTO.

On 18 August, 3.6mm of rainfall flushed from the drains at the site the TBTO dissolved in the water and the Environment Agency said the major impact of the chemical was felt immediately afterwards.

Finally, between 19 August and 25 September 2002, a full clean-up operation was undertaken at the site with the guidance of the Environment Agency.

On 19 August 2002, Essex and Suffolk Water after consultation with the Environment Agency stopped all abstractions from the River Blackwater for Langford and Hanningfield until 12 September 2002.

Braintree District Council told the court that they had been given to believe there had been a spill but that the problem associated with the drains was more related to flooding and siltation than cleaning up a spill. The council would not have gone near this job if they knew that this chemical had gone down the drain.

After the hearing Senior Environment Agency officer Mike Neale said: ‘This chemical pollution had a major, long-lasting impact on the ecology of the River Blackwater in Essex, and seriously affected genuine uses of the river.

‘The incident highlights the need to ensure that those handling hazardous materials understand the nature of the products they handle, the impact they can have if released into the environment, and what actions to take in an emergency.

‘Had the correct actions been taken to contain and clean up the chemical, this incident could have been totally avoided. We are pleased that the fines imposed reflect the court’s views on the severity of this pollution.

‘We will not hesitate to take enforcement action against those who cause pollution whether through negligence or deliberately.’

Environment Agency

FishingMagic Notes
TBTO is a biocide used in timber treatment, and historically as an anti-fouling agent on boat hulls, although this is being phased out and some uses of it has been banned since the 1980’s.

More than 5,700 sizeable coarse fish died as well as thousands of small fish and fry over a 10km stretch of the river. The invertebrate population was decimated over a distance of 7.5km of the main River Blackwater.