Developer fined (From This is Hampshire)
When news happens, text SDE and your photos or videos to 80360. Or contact us by email and phone.
Developer fined
2:49pm Friday 27th April 2007 in News
A DEVELOPER that has built 19-homes in Winchester has been forced to pay the Environment Agency £3,000 for failing to treat sewage effluent to the required standard, a court has heard.
The Agency successfully prosecuted Leatherhead-based Steadfast Management Limited, who pleaded guilty to the offence, last week at Basingstokes Magistrates under section 85(6) of the Water Resources Act 1991.
Steadfast were working on The Hallway development in Littleton when they breached conditions that had been set by the Agency so treated sewage effluent could be discharged into a soakway system to ensure the environment is protected.
One of the conditions imposed on the developers was for the level of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the discharge not to exceed 40 milligrams per litre.
BOD is a measure of how much oxygen is taken up by bacteria entering the water.
The higher the level, the more oxygen is stripped from the water, which is detrimental to any organisms living there.
A further condition that the level of suspended solids, which can smother the macroinvertebrates that live in the riverbed, should not exceed 60 milligrams per litre.Environmental officers first took a sample of the discharge from the site's private sewage treatment works, which were installed there to ensure compliance with the conditions of the consent, in March last year.
They revealed that the treatment plant was failing to treat the sewage properly and BOD levels were measured at more than seven times the authorised figure. The suspended solids level had also breached the permitted level and a further failing was recorded in May 2006.
The company was ordered to pay a total of £3,000 and told to pay the Environment Agency costs of £1,055.Environment management team leader of the Agency, Gareth Bates, said: "We set limits to consents to ensure that any potentially polluting discharge is discharged safely and make sure that the environment is not putat risk. It is the responsibility of consent holders that these are met. Companies like Steadfast Management must ensure their systems are maintained and that the conditions of consents are met."
