East Midlands Airport fined nearly £900,000 for polluting the Diseworth Brook with chemicals
Bosses of the Castle Donington facility admitted three separate environmental offences during a court hearing in April.A judge at Derby Crown Court today (July 28th) fined the airport £892,500 and ordered it to pay £55,647.84 costs.
Judge Martin Hurst said members of the public reported sewage fungus in both the River Trent and Diseworth Brook in early 2021.
Investigations revealed that leaking of contaminated water had come from what he called 'a poorly maintained' storage pond.
All the charges involved excessive levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in wastewater discharged from the airport's facilities.
The Environment Agency grants EMA a permit to discharge de-icing materials into the River Trent and nearby Diseworth Brook between November and April each year.
However, the permit specifically requires that these discharges should not have 'adverse effects' on plants or animals in the water.
Campaigners from Fish Legal and Derby Railway Angling Club had previously raised concerns about the airport's operations, claiming the facility was breaching its permit.They reported that a fungus had been growing on the riverbed as a result of the reported contamination.
EMA's first offence dates back to January 14th, 2022, when the airport exceeded permitted levels in discharge from the Western Summer Pond (a water storage unit).
A second incident occurred on February 1st, 2022, when excessive pollutants were discharged from the Eastern Summer Pond, Environment Agency officials said.
The third and final charge relates to an incident on February 4th, 2022, when regulations were again breached with excessive BOD levels from the Western Summer Ponds.
All violations were contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
The managing director of the airport said that since the matters came to light, it has worked with the Environment Agency and has implemented £11m of improvements.
Speaking after the hearing, East Midlands Airport Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: 'I'm sorry that in 2022 there were issues with the operation of our water drainage system, which led to breaches of our permit on three occasions.
"Since this period, we have been working with the Environment Agency and external industry experts to carry out remedial action.
'We have put in place £11m of improvements, including establishing a new water management team focused on inspecting, maintaining, and operating the surface water management system daily.
"We have installed new monitoring equipment at key locations, which provide better insight into prevailing water quality and quantity conditions.
'[We have] implemented additional aeration capability, which improves the way water is treated before being discharged to the watercourse, as well as carrying out comprehensive remedial works and desilting of ponds.
"We have also introduced a specially adapted sweeper to clean up de-icer from the airfield before it reaches the drainage system.
'I'm satisfied that the issues that led to this prosecution have been fully addressed by these measures. We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and will continue to look at ways to minimise our environmental impact.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
Thames Water investigates 'illegal spill' into sewage facility
A water firm has said it is investigating an "illegal discharge" into one of its sewage Water said a third party had caused the incident at Wheatley Sewage Treatment Works at the River Thame, Oxfordshire, which caused the treatment process to be "knocked out".It said 15 tankers were being used to remove sewage from the site and take it to another facility for firm said there was an indication that wildlife had been impacted. Jake Morley, the firm's government engagement lead for North Thames Valley, said the works were "not designed to take this type of waste and treat it". "We need to allow sites biological process time to recover," he said."Once the site has recovered, we can slowly remove the tankers and treat as normal at the site."He said Thames Water was working the with the Environment Agency (EA) at affected watercourses "both at the ditch and the River Thame". "We are working very hard to reduce the impact to the watercourse," Mr Morley EA has been contacted for a Dem Henley and Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo said he was "extremely concerned" by the incident reports."We don't yet know the full extent, but it's clear that something has gone badly wrong," he said."I've asked for urgent updates from Thames Water, and I'm grateful for the swift response from local councillors and community members."Once the facts are established, we must ensure that those responsible are held to account and that everything possible is done to restore the health of the river." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
ITV News
4 days ago
- ITV News
East Midlands Airport fined nearly £900,000 for polluting the Diseworth Brook with chemicals
East Midlands Airport has been fined almost £900,000 for polluting the Diseworth Brook with chemicals used to de-ice planes and runways. Bosses of the Castle Donington facility admitted three separate environmental offences during a court hearing in April.A judge at Derby Crown Court today (July 28th) fined the airport £892,500 and ordered it to pay £55,647.84 costs. Judge Martin Hurst said members of the public reported sewage fungus in both the River Trent and Diseworth Brook in early 2021. Investigations revealed that leaking of contaminated water had come from what he called 'a poorly maintained' storage pond. All the charges involved excessive levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in wastewater discharged from the airport's facilities. The Environment Agency grants EMA a permit to discharge de-icing materials into the River Trent and nearby Diseworth Brook between November and April each year. However, the permit specifically requires that these discharges should not have 'adverse effects' on plants or animals in the water. Campaigners from Fish Legal and Derby Railway Angling Club had previously raised concerns about the airport's operations, claiming the facility was breaching its reported that a fungus had been growing on the riverbed as a result of the reported contamination. EMA's first offence dates back to January 14th, 2022, when the airport exceeded permitted levels in discharge from the Western Summer Pond (a water storage unit). A second incident occurred on February 1st, 2022, when excessive pollutants were discharged from the Eastern Summer Pond, Environment Agency officials said. The third and final charge relates to an incident on February 4th, 2022, when regulations were again breached with excessive BOD levels from the Western Summer Ponds. All violations were contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. The managing director of the airport said that since the matters came to light, it has worked with the Environment Agency and has implemented £11m of improvements. Speaking after the hearing, East Midlands Airport Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: 'I'm sorry that in 2022 there were issues with the operation of our water drainage system, which led to breaches of our permit on three occasions. "Since this period, we have been working with the Environment Agency and external industry experts to carry out remedial action. 'We have put in place £11m of improvements, including establishing a new water management team focused on inspecting, maintaining, and operating the surface water management system daily. "We have installed new monitoring equipment at key locations, which provide better insight into prevailing water quality and quantity conditions. '[We have] implemented additional aeration capability, which improves the way water is treated before being discharged to the watercourse, as well as carrying out comprehensive remedial works and desilting of ponds. "We have also introduced a specially adapted sweeper to clean up de-icer from the airfield before it reaches the drainage system. 'I'm satisfied that the issues that led to this prosecution have been fully addressed by these measures. We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and will continue to look at ways to minimise our environmental impact.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
East Midlands Airport fined £900,000 for plane de-icer pollution
East Midlands Airport has been fined almost £900,000 for polluting a nearby brook with airport, which cannot connect to a mains sewer and so is responsible for the run-off from its runways, pleaded guilty to three discharges of contaminated water into Diseworth Brook in January and February managing director Steve Griffiths apologised, and said it had taken "decisive action" and invested more than £10m in its sentencing the airport at Derby Crown Court on Monday, Judge Martin Hurst said it had failed to properly invest in its systems from 2015 onwards, and said the money being spent "should reasonably have been spent then". He handed the airport - which he said was the second biggest freight airport in the UK and 14th largest in terms of passengers - a fine of £892,500 and costs of £65,687.54, as well as a victim judge said the airport had been "reckless" and caused "risk to livestock and the residents of the village of Diseworth". Sewage fungus The court heard the systems to process water contaminated by de-icer - to be released into both the River Trent and Diseworth Brook - were installed in the year 2000, with a "useful service life" of 20 from the essential de-icing, including of runways and aircraft, is held in a series of winter and summer ponds, which let water out at different times of the year, and hold different levels of court was told Environment Agency investigations had found defects throughout their systems, including with monitors, pumps and pond led, on three occasions, to Diseworth Brook - which runs "straight through the middle of the village" - being of up to eight times the level allowed were detected on one occasion, the court pollution causes outbreaks of sewage fungus, damaging water quality and harming plant life".Judge Hurst said the investment of more than £10m in the systems since the breaches showed the airport had been responsible and taken action, albeit "five years too late".Following the hearing, Mr Griffiths said: "I'd like to say sorry for the three breaches that we had in early 2022, where we discharged water beyond our permit into the local watercourses."We took decisive action at that point in time and we controlled those issues and that was ahead of any prosecution taking place."
