East Midlands Airport hit with big fine for polluting brook with plane de-icer
Bosses of the Castle Donington facility, whose draft financial figures for 2025 show a turnover of £97m the court heard, had previously pleaded guilty to three separate environmental offences at an earlier hearing, when the airport admitted to breaching its environmental permit conditions.
In response, the managing director of the airport said since the matters came to light it has worked with the Environment Agency and had implemented £11m of improvements leaving him 'satisfied that the issues that led to this prosecution have been fully addressed'.
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Fining the airport £892,500 and ordering it to pay £65,687.54 costs, Judge Martin Hurst said members of the public reported sewage fungus in both the Trent and Diseworth Brook in early 2021 and investigations revealed leaking of contaminated water had come from what he called 'a poorly maintained' storage pond.
What did the judge say?
He said: "In summary, this is a case about the defendant failing to adequately invest in drainage systems enabling, from 2015, many contaminated discharges into Diseworth Brook and the River Trent.
'The defence says the defendant is intent on correcting past failings and In my judgment it is now being properly managed with the defendant having spent in excess of £10m rectifying matters. But this was spent years too late and organisations need to realise they cannot underinvest.'
Why did East Midlands Airport end up in court?
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 Friday, January 14, 2022, when the airport exceeded permitted levels in discharge from the Western Summer Pond (a water storage unit).
A second incident occurred on Tuesday, February 1, 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 Friday, February 4, 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.
'We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously'
Following the conclusion of the case, East Midlands Airport's 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.'
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