A pollution incident involving ‘sewage fungus’ at Suez’s Connon Bridge landfill site in Cornwall has cost the waste business over half a million pounds in fines and fees.
Suez has said that the incident occurred due to ‘exceptionally wet weather conditions’ which led to a permit breach at the site near Liskeard four years ago – with leachate polluting two local streams.
An picture of sewage fungus in the Widowpath stream taken by the Environment Agency
The waste business was sentenced at Truro Crown Court last week (3 February) following the incident in 2013 relating to management of leachate and landfill gas at the site.
The court heard how the Environment Agency had become ‘concerned’ at management of leachate, a run-off of the landfill process, at Connon Bridge in 2012.
Heavy rain had caused levels of the contaminated water to rapidly rise beyond limits outlined in Suez’s environmental permit, it was claimed.
Following contact by members of the public, the Agency investigated the site in January 2013 and discovered two nearby watercourses, the Widowpath and Connon Streams, were ‘smothered’ in sewage fungus for a distance of 4km.
The presence of sewage fungus is a sign of organic pollution, according to the Environment Agency, which concluded it was the worst outbreak in the area ‘for 20 years’.
Prosecution
In its prosecution, the Environment Agency said that leachate had compromised water quality in the groundwater drainage culvert beneath the landfill.
In addition, the Agency investigated spillages of leachate onto uncontained areas of the site, as well as surface water contamination.
Suez had attempt to remove large volumes of the contaminated surface water, according to the Agency, by ‘umping it onto adjacent fields.
The Agency also looked into complaints by local residents of ‘unpleasant odours’ emitted from the site, caused by ‘inadequately controlled emissions of landfill gas’.
Sentencing
Pleading guilty to six of eleven charges, Suez was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay costs of £325,000 following the four-year investigation.
Commenting on the case, Suez said it had ‘not sought to shy away from shortcomings’ at the site.
Landfill leachate overflowing from an extraction well on the site
The company blamed the issues on the ‘exceptionally wet weather conditions’ experienced in the region throughout 2012, and added it had taken steps to improve leachate management at the site in the event of further prolonged heavy rainfall.
This includes reducing the size of the operational area, the use of temporary capping, upgrading the leachate treatment volume to boost capacity and increasing extraction of leachate from gas wells.
‘Regret’
A spokesperson for Suez said: ‘We deeply regret that, despite our best endeavours, we were unable to maintain full compliance at the site during 2012 and early 2013 but are pleased that the judge recognised that our overall compliance record, across our 211 operational sites (of which 11 are active landfill), around the country is good and we do our best to manage waste in compliance with our environmental permits.”
Simon Harry, of the Environment Agency, said: “People living close to Connon Bridge landfill will not have forgotten the appalling odours that emanated from this site in 2013. The negligent failings of the landfill operator resulted in pollution both by odour and to local watercourses. The judge in this case acknowledged, in particular, the distress caused to the local community by the odour.”
The landfill site – the largest in Cornwall, according to the Environment Agency – is due to close by December 2018.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
