A property company has been fined 7,500GBP for polluting a County Durham stream.
At North Durham Magistrates' Court Gladman Developments Limited pleaded guilty to one offence of polluting Rowletch Burn at Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, in March last year.
The company, of Gladman House, Alexandria Way, Congleton, Cheshire, was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of 15GBP. It already had paid the Environment Agency's full prosecution costs of 2,737.44GBP, as well as the initial investigation costs of 539GBP.
Trevor Cooper, prosecuting, said pollution from Gladman's site on the Drum Industrial Estate in Birtley, was first reported to Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL) on 6 March 2008. A discharge of contaminated water into a surface water drain at the estate was polluting Rowletch Burn.
When an NWL employee attended, Gladman's site manager said the company was pumping "water" into the drain and claimed to have permission from both NWL and the Environment Agency.
The site manager was told even if he had permission pumping had to stop because the discharge was heavily contaminated with solid matter and was polluting the burn.
The court heard Gladman had no trade effluent permission or discharge consent from either NWL or the Environment Agency.
NWL reported its findings to the Environment Agency, whose officers attended on 7 March 2008. They found Gladman was still pumping and instructed the site manager to stop immediately. In interview under caution, the site manager said Gladman was clearing ground to begin development and had dug a drainage pit, with a pump and pipe to drain "water".
This effluent went into an NWL surface water manhole and from there into Rowletch Burn. Samples taken upstream showed the amount of suspended solids was 18.8mg per litre, whereas the sample taken from the pipe as it entered the manhole chamber was 2,030mg per litre.
Suspended solids can damage a watercourse and harm plant and invertebrate habitats, by reducing light penetration, increasing water temperature and leading to loss of spawning habitat. Suspended solids also can cause damage to fish gills.
In October, Gladman's solicitors said the company accepted it was responsible for suspended solids entering the burn, and had wrongly believed it had discharge consent. The company had installed a silt trap to prevent similar pollution in future.
Aggravating features of the case included the reckless nature of the offence, and the fact it continued for 22 hours, after Gladman was told to stop by NWL.
In mitigation, the company had committed no previous environmental offences and the magistrates gave it credit for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
There had been two unrelated incidents in the burn the previous week so it was not possible to assess any ecological damage from the pollution.
Speaking after the case, environment officer Jo Mattock said: "Anyone carrying out this sort of work must remember the potential environmental damage it can cause. They can check whether they need a discharge consent by calling 08708 506 506."
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Gladman Developments Limited was charged with one offence, that on and before 7 March 2008 did cause polluting matter, namely trade effluent contaminated with suspended solids, to enter controlled waters, namely the Rowletch Burn, Birtley.
Contrary to Section 85(1) and 85(6) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
