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Scottish Water fined £6,000 for failure to fully treat sewage discharged from Stranraer

10 March 2010

Scottish Water pled guilty yesterday (9 March) at Stranraer Sheriff Court after sewage effluent was discharged into Loch Ryan which had not undergone secondary treatment as required by the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.

Scottish Water holds a water use licence under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) Scotland Regulations 2005 to discharge treated sewage effluent from Stranraer Wastewater Treatment Works into Loch Ryan, subject to certain conditions designed to protect the flora and fauna within the Loch

Yesterday, Scottish Water was fined £2000 for failing to comply with a condition of its water use licence in that samples of the treated sewage effluent from the works exceeded the permitted limit of biochemical demand ("BOD") contrary to the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005. BOD is the most commonly used indicator for determining the oxygen demand of a pollutant on the receiving water, ie the amount of oxygen that is lost from the water body as a result of the presence of the pollutant.

Scottish Water was also fined £4000 for failing to comply with a condition of its licence which states that the volume of the discharge should be measured accurately by means of a continuous automatic recorder and integrator, and that all records and recording equipment should be available for inspection.

SEPA officers attended the sewage treatment works between January and April 2009 to take samples of the sewage effluent and to conduct a formal inspection of the works. On each visit, the samples breached licence limits and indicated that the effluent had not undergone any form of secondary treatment. In addition, no record of the volume of discharge was provided and no recording instruments were available for inspection.

John Gorman, SEPA's investigating officer, said:

"Since the end of 2005, all towns with populations of between 10,000 and 15,000, such as Stranraer, should have secondary treatment provided to their urban wastewater treatment plants.  Scottish Water was well aware of the legal requirement to meet European Directive conditions and discussions had been taking place between SEPA and Scottish Water since May 2000.

"Loch Ryan is a designated Shellfish Water under the Shellfish Waters Directive, and therefore SEPA is required to take action should water sampling indicate that the environmental quality standards set out in the Directive are not being met. Loch Ryan has consistently been failing to meet the standards, and SEPA considers that the discharge from Stranraer wastewater treatment plant is contributing to this failure.

"There is a Loch Ryan Sewage Treatment Improvement Project underway and SEPA expects it to proceed without undue delay. Regular meetings will be held with Scottish Water and appointed contractors to ensure that this is done. Recent meetings have already been held to discuss the final design, asset location and likely discharge requirements." 

SEPA's Colin Bayes, Director of Environmental Protection and Improvement said:

"We want to help people avoid pollution and work with them to find solutions. However, where pollution is significant or persistent, or is as a result of wilful or negligent actions, SEPA will use its enforcement powers to protect the environment for the benefit of all of Scotland's citizens.

"Importantly, if a pollution incident occurs, we urge anyone to let us know straight away by calling our 24 hour pollution report line, 0800 80 70 60, giving as many details as possible so effective action can be taken."

Ends

Notes to editors

The exact charges Scottish Water pled guilty to <:were:

(001) on various dates between 26 January and 29 April 2009 at Stranraer Wastewater Treatment Works, Port Rodie, Stranraer you SCOTTISH WATER did fail to comply with or contravene a water use licence (including any conditions imposed) namely conditions 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 of Schedule 1 to water use licence CAR/L/1003619, which conditions together provide that time-based composite samples of treated sewage effluent from said Works shall contain more than 25 milligrams per litre in terms of condition 1.1.1 and 50 milligrams per litre in terms of condition 1.1.2 of biochemical oxygen demand (determined in the presence of excess allyl-thiourea after 5 days at 20ºC) except as specified in condition 1.1.2 aforesaid and in Appendix 1 of said water use licence in that on 26 January 2009 you did discharge treated sewage effluent from Tank No1 at said Works containing 53 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand and from Tank No2 at said works containing 40 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand, and on 2 February 2009 you did discharge treated sewage effluent from said Tank No1 containing 48 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand and said Tank No2 containing 58 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand , and on 24 February 2009 you did discharge treated sewage effluent from said Tank No1 containing 120 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand and said Tank No2 containing 120 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand, and on 17 March 2009 you did discharge treated sewage effluent from said Tank No1 containing 90 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand and said Tank No2 containing 65 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand, and on 29 April 2009 you did discharge treated sewage effluent from said Tank No1 containing 68 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand and said Tank No2 containing 59 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen demand;

CONTRARY to the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005, Regulation 40(1Scotland) Act 2003, Section 20(1).

(002) on various dates between 26 January and 29 April 2009 at Stranraer Wastewater Treatment Works, Port Rodie, Stranraer you Scottish Water did fail to comply with or contravene a water use licence (including any conditions imposed) namely condition entitled 'Volume' of water use licence CAR/L/1003619, which states that the volume of the discharge shall be measured accurately by means of a continuous automatic recorder and integrator to be provided and maintained by the Town Council, and that the records and recording instruments shall be available for inspection at any reasonable time by any authorised member of the Board's staff, in that during inspections of said Works by authorised SEPA officers on 26 January, 2 February, 24 February, 17 March and 29 April 2009 no recorder of volume of the discharge had been provided and accordingly also no records or recording instruments were available for inspection by SEPA's officers;

CONTRARY to the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005, Regulation 40(1Scotland) Act 2003 Section 20(1).