Warning Shot for Water Authority
Issued on 14 January 1998 - Ref W9801/01

West of Scotland Water was fined £1,000 under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 at Oban Sherriff Court yesterday, the judge singling out the manner in which it dealt with a sewage pollution incident, in September 1996, as the main reason for the penalty.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency responded to the original incident following a complaint from a member of a public. SEPA officers confirmed the presence of dead fish, sewage rags and faeces in a burn which runs through the village of Dunbeg near Oban. On investigation, the officers found the source of the contamination to be a choked sewer, operated by West of Scotland Water, which was discharging raw sewage.

Although West of Scotland Water responded promptly on being notified of the problem, the manner in which the problem was dealt with, by the authority, resulted in additional sewage rushing into the same burn. SEPA believed that it was irresponsible to clear a blocked sewer without first considering the full potential impact and decided to report the matter to the Procurator Fiscal.

"This is the first conviction against West of Scotland Water under the Control of Pollution Act," said SEPA’s Argyll Area Team Leader, Moir Nelson. "This fact goes to reinforce that a good working relationship ordinarily exists between the Agency and the authority, and we are keen to continue on a similar footing in future. However, the incident does show that SEPA will not hesitate to act when circumstances are appropriate."

ENDS

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