Glebe Mines guilty of causing mud flood
Posted: Friday 3rd April 2009
A mineral processor has received almost £40,000 in fines and costs for causing a thick wave of mud to flow through a small village, leading to the devastating pollution of Peak District waters.
A mineral processor has received almost 40,000 GBP in fines and costs for causing a thick wave of mud to flow through a small village, leading to the devastating pollution of Peak District waters.
Glebe Mines Limited, which operate Cavendish Mill, Stoney Middleton, pleaded guilty yesterday, Thursday 12 March 2009, to two charges of polluting the Stoke Brook and River Derwent, an important source of drinking water supply.
The charges related to two separate incidents in January and August 2007. The first incident caused a river of water and mud to surge through the Peak District village of Stoney Middleton and seriously affect the aquatic life in and around the Stoke Brook, the River Derwent, the River Trent and a local nature reserve, which is home to a number of protected species. The second polluted the Stoke Brook, the River Derwent and the Hawkenedge Sough.
Yesterday, at Chesterfield Magistrates, the company was fined 22,000 GBP and ordered to pay 16,397.16 GBP in costs. The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Water Resources Act 1991.
For the Environment Agency, Barry Berlin told the court that on two occasions in 2007, January and August, Glebe Mines were the cause of pollution incidents in surrounding waters.
The events of 22 January 2007 resulted in a category one (major) incident which, as well as the Environment Agency, involved the Police, the Fire Service, the Food Standards Agency, and the County and District Councils. Houses and roads up to 2 kilometres away were flooded after a wall of muddy water surged through the streets when material escaped from a lagoon on the Glebe Mines site. A major road was closed for several days.
Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court heard that it had taken specialist consultants and contractors over 18 months to carry out the clean up operation.
The Glebe Mines premises lie within the catchment of the Stoke Brook, a small tributary of the River Derwent. The Stoke Brook and the Derwent were seriously polluted during the incident and the abstraction of drinking water had to be suspended. Fishing activity on the Derwent was affected and a local nature reserve damaged. The pollution resulted from an escape of silt deposits from Glebe Mining mineral processing operations and was highly visible some thirty miles downstream in the River Trent. The pollutant included elevated levels toxic metals such as; lead, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc.
The second pollution incident took place over four days beginning on 31 August 2007. It caused serious contamination of the Hawkenedge Sough, Stoke Brook and River Derwent. Due to a fault in a pipeline, dirty water was discharged into Stoke Brook. This incident again affected the nature reserve which supports protected species such as water vole, the great-crested newt and brook lampreys.
A scientific study, carried out in February 2007, found that the acute damage had been done to a significant length of the stream and that long term effects could be expected over a much longer length of the River Derwent.
There was a short-term depletion in brown trout, bullheads and other fauna and the annual ova was smothered by tailings. Raised levels of heavy metals in the sediment remain a concern for both ecology and agriculture, as the sediment had also been deposited on parts of the floodplain of the Stoke Brook.
Speaking after the case Stuart King, an Environment Agency Officer involved in the investigation said: “The January event was a major incident and we were determined to ensure that Glebe Mines took responsibility for the clean up. That work is now complete, although we will continue to monitor the watercourses affected. We have also worked with them to ensure they continue to improve their environmental management on site and would urge all other companies to pay appropriate attention to their pollution prevention measures.“
In mitigation, the court heard that the company had no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty and had spent some two millions pounds on remediation work. The lagoon in question had been inspected on a regular basis and there had been no direct harm to the public.
In sentencing the Deputy District Judge said that the two incidents had resulted in significant impact and the January incident was a major pollution incident. The extent of the discharge was seen some thirty miles downstream and the material was highly contaminating, causing a temporary reduction in the fish population. He also commented that the emergency services had been involved and particularly praised the Agency’s thorough investigation and presentation of the facts.
In mitigating the level of the fines imposed, he took into account that the this was a wholly exceptional case where no fault was alleged. The company had carried out risk assessments. He commented that the company had no previous convictions and had remediated the site at a considerable cost.
