Firm’s £500,000 bill for river pollution fish deaths

- *OMEX Agriculture Ltd admitted the leak which is thought to be ‘one of

the largest environmental incidents ever recorded in Lincolnshire’*

- *Pollution stretched 46km all the way to The Wash at Boston killing

more than 135,000 fish*

- *Faulty pipe leaked equivalent of more than an Olympic swimming pool

amount of deadly fertiliser into River Witham*

In a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency, a Lincolnshire firm

which leaked liquid fertiliser into the River Witham wiping out more than

135,000 fish has been ordered to pay a total of £510,190.

The pollution – which stretched 46km to The Wash at Boston – is thought to

be one of ‘the largest environmental incidents ever recorded in

Lincolnshire’.

Failure of an overground pipe caused the spill, which devastated nearby

rivers and surrounding woodland.

Impact from the pollution destroyed all invertebrates in the river’s

tributaries for more than 23km downstream of the site.

Immediately after the pollution, the Environment Agency and partners worked

‘tirelessly’ to mitigate the impacts. They restocked the river with more

than 1.5 million fish larvae and 70,000 roach and bream.

And they continue to work closely with East Lindsey District Council and

the Forestry Commission to remedy affected woodland.

Whilst the water quality of the River Witham improved within a few days, it

could take years for the fisheries to recover, the court heard.

OMEX Agriculture Ltd pleaded guilty to the major category 1 pollution

incident at their facility at Bardney Airfield, Tupholme, near Bardney, at

Lincolnshire Magistrates (June 12). Category 1 is the most severe of three

Environment Agency ratings used to grade pollution incidents.

They were ordered to pay a fine of £160,000, ordered to pay costs of

£350,000 and a victim surcharge of £190.

*District Judge Veits* said that the incident ‘…was avoidable had proper

checks been made’. He added that ‘…checks were not clear or well

documented’ and that the failures involved were ‘foreseeable’.

He also said there was: ‘…clear negligence in not having appropriate checks

in place’.

*Leigh Edlin, Area Director at the Environment Agency for Lincolnshire and

Northamptonshire, said:*

“The pollution of the River Witham by OMEX was a devastating event and one

of the largest environmental

incidents we have seen in Lincolnshire.

“The Environment Agency has worked tirelessly to undo the damage,

introducing thousands of fish, and requiring the polluter, OMEX, to repair

the damage that was done.

“Today marks the end of the legal process and we are rightly pleased with

the result in the court. This is one part of a much larger effort, led by

the Environment Agency, to ensure the River Witham is restored and that the

polluter pays financially and legally.”

OMEX Agriculture Ltd, the global company, which has its headquarters at

Lincolnshire, manufacturers liquid chemical fertiliser for the agricultural

industry and de-icer products which it ships around the UK and the world.

In March 2018, approximately three million litres of liquid urea ammonium

nitrate (UAN) concentrate fertiliser escaped from a storage lagoon into the

River Witham and tributaries.

The incident triggered a massive Environment Agency response and

investigation, including the launch of the Environment Agency’s marine

survey vessel.

Fish density within the River Witham was greatly affected and the

population of pike is likely to take years to recover due to the number of

adult fish killed.

Around three hectares of woodland with ancient woodland characteristics was

also damaged with all the trees in the area having to be felled.

The court heard how OMEX, which stores UAN for production of fertilisers,

failed to put in place an appropriate maintenance and inspection regime to

avoid the catastrophic pollution.

Fertiliser was held in two sealed ‘bladder’ bag lagoons, both holding the

equivalent liquid of three Olympic swimming pools, or 7.5 million litres.

Pipework, operated by an electronic pump system, was used to pump liquid

fertiliser from the two lagoons to holding tanks elsewhere on their site.

Road tankers were filled from these, they then transported the fertiliser

for sale. The pump system was manual until 2017, when it was updated to an

automated system by the company’s electrical contractor.

Ultimately, it was the failure of both the overground pipe and an

electrical fault that went unnoticed and enabled the pump to continue

pumping that led to the devastating discharge.

Environment Agency officers discovered a number of dead fish in the River

Witham at Southrey following a report in early March 2018. They traced the

pollution upstream via an increasing trail of dead fish and high ammonia

readings, eventually identifying the OMEX site as the source and

immediately entered the site to report it.

Liquid fertiliser was found ‘gushing’ from the elbow joint of an overground

pipe which left the surrounding ground and woodland sodden with pooling

liquid fertiliser. The pump was immediately switched off but most of the

pollution had already escaped to the river.

On March 8, a temporary dam built on nearby woodland and the fixing of

leaking pipes by OMEX still failed to contain the leak. Saturated ground

and contaminated surface water continued to pose a high pollution risk.

It was halted through excavations at source and the fitting of a culvert

and concrete pipe to keep contamination away from clean water.

Upstream of Bardney Lock, where the pollution entered the River Witham, in

Snakeholme Drain and Scotsgrove Drain, high levels of ammonia remained for

months.

The incident was classified as a Category 1 incident under the Environment

Agency’s Common Incident Classification Scheme due to its major impact on

the environment.

Conservative estimates have the loss of fish life of more than 135,000.

Approximately 1 tonne of dead fish was disposed of at a landfill site

around a month later. This included roach, bream, perch, as well as large

pike, due to spawn.

An independent investigator found the pipe work had separated at the

leaking elbow joint because it was faulty. The review found that had it

been checked when first installed, over 20 years ago, it would have been

identified as faulty but no testing had been done. Overground pipework was

only checked visually and there were no records of those checks.

There was no routine maintenance of electrical systems and therefore

foreseeable electrical faults were not planned for.

In July 2020, OMEX was ordered to carry out river recovery measures set out

by the Environment Agency. Under the Environmental Damage (Prevention and

Remediation) Regulations 2015, the company has been working to restore the

river to its former health.

Fish refuges have been installed across half a dozen locations on the

river. OMEX has also created further backwaters along the river, areas

where fish have calm and still water to breed and shelter.

The company must assess whether fish populations have recovered, or whether

more restocking is required to bring the river back to its former health.

OMEX will be responsible for monitoring and maintaining the improvements

for at least the next decade.

Anyone who suspects a pollution incident is urged to report it to the

Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

*Notes to Editors*

Omex Agriculture Ltd pleaded guilty to the following charge: On or about

the 3 March 2018, you caused a water discharge activity namely the entry of

poisonous noxious or polluting matter into inland freshwaters, namely the

Scotgrove Drain, Snakeholme Drain, Old River Witham, and River Witham near

Bradney in the county of Lincolnshire, otherwise than under and to the

extent authorised by an environmental permit.

Contrary to regulations 12 (1) (b)and 38(1) (a) of the Environmental

Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The Environment Agency has taken tough action against those companies which

break the rules.

Companies were handed record fines last year, making clear that polluters

will be made to pay for damage to the environment.

The Environment Agency does not decide the fines handed out to companies

and individuals who pollute our rivers. This is down to the courts.

- The Environment Agency has significantly driven up monitoring and

transparency from water companies in recent years, so that everyone can see

what is going on. This includes:

- *Event Duration Monitoring*: this measures how often and for how long

storm overflows are used. The Environment Agency has increased the number

of overflows monitored across the network from 800 in 2016 to more than

12,700 in 2021, the equivalent of almost nine in ten storm overflows now

with monitoring devices. All 15,000 overflows will have them by the end of

2023. All the data is published *online*

.

More info on Event Duration Monitoring can be found *here*

.

- *Flow-to-full treatment*: The Environment Agency has also asked

companies to install new flow monitors on more than 2,000 wastewater

treatment works to identify what is happening at those works during the

sewage treatment process itself. This has led to a major investigation,

announced in November 2021, with the Environment Agency requesting more

detailed data from all wastewater treatment works.

- *Storm Overflows Taskforce: *Through the work of the Storm Overflows

Taskforce – made up of Defra, the Environment Agency, Ofwat, Consumer

Council for Water, Blueprint for Water and Water UK – water companies have

agreed to increase transparency around when and how storm overflows are

used:

- make real-time data on sewage discharges available at bathing sites

all year round.

- publish annual monitoring data on their websites so that progress in

reducing their use can be tracked. The Environment Agency will compile this

data into an annual report that is easily accessible to the public. This

data is also being used at an operational level to prioritise the most

frequent spills for further assessment by EA officers.

- The Environment Agency has taken tough action against those companies

which are breaking the rules:

- In 2021 the Environment Agency concluded seven prosecutions against

water and sewerage companies with fines of £90 million, two of £4 million,

£2.3 million, £1.5 million, £150,000, and £540,000. In 2022 nine

prosecutions were concluded with fines of £1,600,750, £300,000, £240,000,

£233,000, £50,000, and £18,000, £350,000, £871,000 and £536,000.

- The Environment Agency has launched a major investigation into

possible unauthorised spills at thousands of sewage treatment works.

- We will always seek to hold those responsible for environmental harm

to account.

*For East Anglia press office please contact (24 hours): 0800 917 9250*

All Environment Agency news releases, both area and national, can be found

under Announcements at

*www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency*

Follow us on Twitter @EnvAgencyAnglia

1. Adult pike carcasses retrieved from River Witham following the

pollution.

1. Large adult pike carcass being retrieved from the watercourse.

2. Large fish carcasses retrieved from River Witham, being sent to

landfill.

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