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Scottish Water has pleaded guilty to two pollution incidents in 2011 and was fined £10,000 at Alloa Sheriff Court on Monday.
The incidents, which involved an acid spillage and a sewage discharge, resulted in the pollution of the River Devon and the Goudnie Burn in Clackmannanshire.
On July 4 the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) found there had been a spillage of approximately 10,000 litres of concentrated sulphuric acid into a reservoir at Glendevon Water Treatment Plant.
Calum Waddell, SEPA’s reporting officer, said: “Had the sulphuric acid tank been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations, and appropriate materials used, it is likely that the incident would not have occurred. An appropriately sized bund was not provided to contain any potential leak from the storage facility and there was no chemical spill kit available on site.”
The following month pumps failed at St Serfs sewage pumping station, backing sewage up in the system, which found its way into the Goudnie Burn.
Liam Macrae, SEPA’s investigating officer, said an alarm system which should have alerted Scottish Water of the problem had not been maintained and had therefore not functioned as it should have.
He added: “Sewage effluent discharges can be highly polluting in terms of water quality and aesthetics as they are likely to contain high levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD), which reduces the amount of oxygen available in the water. Such discharges can have an adverse effect on the eco-system of a watercourse, particularly those with low dilution such as the Goudnie Burn.”
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