Source: Environment Agency
Berwick Hall Farm was responsible for the pollution and today (Tues 26 November) appeared before magistrates to answer charges. The farm was fined £34,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £32,997 and a victim surcharge of £120.
Mr Matthew Clark, the company director, was driving a tractor over a badly constructed bridge trailing a sprayer of agricultural chemicals when it tipped and emptied much of its contents into Toppesfield Brook, a tributary of the River Colne.
Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald, prosecuting for the Agency, said the incident could have been prevented had the bridge been constructed and maintained properly or if the director had chosen a different route to avoid the river crossing.
Magistrates heard that approximately 12,300 fish were killed in the River Colne and 3,000 were killed in the brook during the pollution on 13 June 2012. Environment Agency fisheries officers mounted a round the clock rescue of 7,700 fish with the help of officers from other parts of the country when the Agency initiated its major incident procedure. Biologists said that for 15km downstream from the spill macro invertebrates were either dead or dying and that the pesticide pollution was the cause of the death of the fish and the invertebrates.
Environment Officer Ralph Robinson, first on the scene, said:
“When I arrived Toppesfield Brook was already milky white in colour and there was a pungent chemical smell in the air. The sprayer was toppled on its side on the bridge and the strong flow on the brook was causing the pesticide to disperse downstream rapidly.”
Mrs McDonald also told the court that at the time of the pollution Anglian Water was taking water from the River Colne to fill Ardleigh Reservoir but had to stop operations for 27 days, depleting the amount of stored water; the company also pumped water from two of its boreholes into the river to try to help dilute the pollution.
After the hearing Environment Agency officer Peter Cooke said:
“This incident had a catastrophic impact on fish and aquatic life in Toppesfield Brook and the River Colne and affected drinking water supplies many miles away but the prompt reporting enabled the Environment Agency to dam the river and save some of the fish.
The significant ecological damage, combined with today’s fine, and the huge costs incurred by the farm insurers, should act as a sobering reminder to all pesticide users of the acute and toxic nature of the chemicals they use.”
