Firms pay £18,200 for sewage spillages

ENVIRONMENTAL chiefs have warned businesses “will be held to account” for pollution breaches in the wake of two successful prosecutions against companies behind major sewage leaks.

Scottish Water has been fined £17,000 over a 2014 incident in which an estimated two million litres of untreated sewage was released into the Red Burn, Cumbernauld, killing fish and causing contamination that stretched more than one-and-a-half miles downstream.

In a separate case, farm partnership Mccreery and Sons was fined £1,200 for repeatedly discharging slurry and silage into unnamed tributaries of Gifford Water, East Lothian, in 2014.

Terry A’hearn, chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), said: “Both these incidents caused damage to those water bodies, both these incidents caused fish mortalities, and both these incidents should not have happened.

“We’re disappointed they took place but we’re pleased both organisations have been held to account.

“This is at the core of our One Planet Prosperity regulatory strategy. Businesses and organisations that do the right thing for the environment will be supported by Sepa; they’ll be helped to keep doing the right thing and do even better.

“Those that get it wrong will be held to account in this way.”

Sepa said the prosecutions, which have both come to court during the past month, highlight the importance of managing farm effluents and maintaining critical watertreatment infrastructure.