Court Case against an Alleged Surface Water Polluter Brought Under Section 209 of the Water Resources Act (1991) - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The two Environment Agency (EA) Technical Officers observed and photographed the silt water that spreads across the half of the southern part of the controlled surface water of South Lake. The officers traced the source of the polluting discharge back to trenching excavations that were being carried out by the Ltd Company. The company was in the process of installing a new drinking main water supply for the rainy periods. The starting place of the silty water was the channel that was being dewatered through the pumping out of the water that had accumulated in the channel using an extractor pump (3inch).
The conditions at the site were referred to as boggy by the defendant and the surrounding land was characterized as heather and scrubland on the sandy soil. It was then established that about 80,000 litres of water had been pumped to waste. The Environment Agency (EA) officers approached the sites manager and notified him of the offence and the consequences it will bring forth hence the likelihood of a court case.
The Environment Agency (EA) officers observed that the silt was making its way by gravity which is 50-60m through a wooded area into a roadside ditch. Pollution discharge followed 170m alongside the B3430 road in the ditch through a silt trap into a 30m length of culvert; this Culvert discharged into Environment Agency (EA) controlled water (stream) which was flowing under the road and then some 370m into South Lake. A series of 5 tripartite samples were taken by the Technical Officers from the channel to the lake. The samples were taken in the way that has been prescribed by Water Resources Act. The samples included those from the pump; when the samples from the pump were taken, the pump was switched off. After collection of the samples, they were moved to the independent reference laboratories and the EA laboratory where an analysis was done and then presented for an independent analysis to the Ltd Company. Ltd Company was informed by the EA Area Pollution Control Manager that the analysis results suggested that an offence was committed and the papers were to be passed to the EA Solicitor for action to be taken in the local Magistrate’s Court. Pollutants The pollutants from the samples analyzed were suspended solids, ammoniacal - N, chloride, pH, BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), total oxidized nitrogen and orthophosphate. Each of the pollutant will be described and its effects indicated. Suspended Solids They are naturally found in water and in its excess they become harmful. The finest particles in the suspended solids cause most of the serious problems. Increase in the suspended solids in water makes the water look cloudy or turbid. When the water becomes cloudy, it limits sunlight reaching the aquatic plants. The effect on the aquatic plants is stunted growth. Fine suspended solids can clog the fish gills and destroy their respiration and that of other aquatic animals (Hill 2010, p245). Sediments can have differing physical and biological effects depending on the form of the suspended solids. Suspended solids high value reduces the productivity of the systems by shading the macrophytes and algae. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More