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South West Water has been ordered to pay more than £65,000 in fines and costs for illegally discharging aluminium chloride into the East Looe River in Cornwall.
The water company was prosecuted by the Environment Agency (EA) after a chemical spill was reported at its sewage treatment works near the river last year.
The chemical, which is used to improve the quality of the final effluent before it leaves the sewage treatment works, must be stored in a bunded tank because it is toxic. However, a pipe which carried the chemical from a tank into South West’s sewage treatment process was broken. As a result, aluminium chloride flowed into the river via a buried manhole.
It is not known how much aluminium chloride, which is toxic to fish, reached the river, but the company should have kept a record of its use, the EA said. South West Water also failed to follow its own storage procedures.
“The toxic nature of aluminium chloride places a special responsibility upon water companies and other users of this chemical to ensure this chemical is handled and stored with great care,” said Rob Hocking prosecuting for the EA. “Every effort should be made to minimise the risk of it escaping into the environment.”
South West Water was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 costs.
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