As usual this week sees a number of serious water pollution incidents reported online. Not a week goes by without at least one incident. Here’s the latest water pollution prevention and spill containment news.

Fuerst Day Lawson donates £150,000 to The Trent Rivers Trust

A pollution incident between July and September 2015 saw polluting matter entering the balancing pools on Stanley Matthews Way before flowing into the Newstead Brook near Stoke-on-Trent, a nasty discharge from Fuerst Day Lawson’s site on the Newstead Industrial Estate in Trentham.

Fuerst Day Lawson manufacture food ingredients, and their offer of an Enforcement Undertaking to the Environment Agency was okayed three years later, last September. An Enforcement Undertaking is an alternative to prosecution and fines. A legally binding voluntary agreement proposed by a company or individual, the Environment Agency brings them into play when they suspect an environmental offence. The resulting £150,000 donation to the Trent Rivers Trust will fund environmental projects in the Stoke area. The company has also improved the site dramatically and paid a ‘significant’ percentage of the Environment Agency’s costs, just shy of £120,000.

The Trent Rivers Trust is delighted to be working with landowners on several river restoration schemes along the upper reaches of the Trent, funded by the Enforcement Undertaking. The river will be restored in various places to recreate a range of precious natural features within the channel and on the banks. This will allow the river to naturally break down pollution better on its own, and will create valuable improved habitats for fish and other wildlife.

Europe’s streams are widely polluted by antibiotics and pesticides

As reported by The Guardian, pesticides and antibiotics are polluting streams right across Europe, and it’s a lethal combination for wildlife. It might even lead to even more drug-resistant microbes evolving.

Apparently over 100 pesticides and 21 drugs were detected in the 29 waterways analysed in 10 European nations, including Britain. 25% of the chemicals discovered have been banned, and 50% of the streams tested contained illegal levels of at least one pesticide.

Pesticides are just one reason for plummeting populations of insects and the birds that rely on them. The research discovered a host of nasties including herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and antimicrobial drugs given to farm animals. While the risk of antimicrobial drug resistance is widely known, now there’s a new kid on the block: resistance to fungicides. Particularly nasty fungal infections are already starting to appear in our hospitals, and that’s very worrying.

Syngenta, which makes vast amounts of pesticide, says they’re carrying out a ‘major shift in global strategy’ to reduce pesticides in the environment. Another firm, Bayer, said it would finally make all 107 studies into the safety of its controversial herbicide glyphosate public. It matters because in March 2019 a US federal jury found that their herbicide, called Roundup, was a ‘substantial factor’ in causing cancer in a Californian man. However glyphosate wasn’t included in the research, so its true impact isn’t known.

Irish Water have said EU pesticide levels are being breached in public water supplies across Ireland. And in Switzerland the soil in 93% of organic farms was contaminated with insecticides, as were 80% of the land set aside by farmers for wildlife. In 2013 research revealed insecticides were devastating dragonfly, snail and other water-based species in Netherlands, so bad in places that the water itself could be used as a pesticide. And a French study showed how almost all farmers could cut their use of pesticides by half and still produce the same amount of crops. It’s about time the pollution was stopped, and stopped for good.

Sewage pollution forces Yorkshire Water to pay out £200,000 to charity

Yorkshire Water have made a £200,000 donation to charity after a sewage pollution incident at the Pissy Beds Drain near Doncaster. The money has been paid to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as part of an Enforcement Undertaking, after the water company admitted causing sewage in 2015 to flow into the Drain, a tributary of the River Trent.

It’s yet another example of Enforcement Undertakings, which let polluters make offers to the Environment Agency as restorative action. Polluters can either hand money over or fix the problems they’ve caused themselves, as an alternative to any other kind of enforcement action. The Environment Agency decides whether the offer is good enough.

High levels of ammonia and low dissolved oxygen levels were detected thanks to sewage entering the watercourse. Luckily the damage was found, stopped and fixed fast. Yorkshire Water Services cleaned the watercourse and repaired the broken rising main, at a cost of £235,000, and also paid all the Agency’s costs. They have also improved their early warning system and added extra alarms. Their donation to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust will be used to fund the Humberhead Levels Nature Improvement Area.

Water pollution, chemical spill, chemical fire and more – Avoid them all

With industrial spills and fires more common than you might expect, it’s wise to have an expert on hand to help you avoid trouble and potentially huge fines. We’ll be delighted to discuss the best ways to help you stay out of trouble.