A Cornish farmer has been told to pay out £3,765 after a spill of digestate at his farm led to a fish kill in the River Ottery.
Truro magistrates’ court heard that Norman Osborne, 57, of Tobarn, Jacobstow, operated a farm near Warbstow, which was the scene of a major fish-kill incident in 2022.
Following the hearing on 13 May, Osborne was fined £215 after pleading guilty to causing a water discharge activity, and was told to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £3,550.
Environment Agency officers responded to reports of dead fish in the River Ottery on 22 May 2022 and determined that an estimated 2,300 gallons of digestate had entered the watercourse from a tank on Osborne’s farm.
Digestate is a wet slurry-like material from the anaerobic digestion of waste food and other organic wastes which is used as a fertiliser. It is highly polluting and can have very high ammonia and nitrogen levels.
A total of 471 dead fish were counted, with the true number estimated to be 1,610
The court heard that Osborne was transferring digestate from a tank to a tanker to spread on his farmland, when a connecting hose broke.
The spilled digestate ran down the road and entered the nearby watercourse. This was exacerbated by Osborne washing the spilled digestate into the watercourse. Osborne failed to report the incident to the Environment Agency.
The spill will have caused high ammonia levels, and the watercourse was found to contain sludge and microplastics.
Some 3.5km of watercourse was affected by the pollution. A total of 471 dead fish were counted, with the true number estimated to be 1,610. Dead fish included Atlantic salmon, brown trout and bullheads.
The court heard that two years after the pollution, fish populations had still not recovered to historic levels.
Dead fish included Atlantic salmon, brown trout and bullheads
An Environment Agency spokesperson said:
This pollution led to a major fish kill and lasting damage to the watercourse. Osborne’s failure to swiftly report the incident to the Environment Agency exacerbated the significant impact of the spill.
Digestate is highly-polluting and should be handled with great care. If a pollution does occur, farmers must contact us as soon as possible so we can provide them with guidance on mitigation or containment and take action to prevent further harm to the environment.
Background
Norman Osborne was charged with one offence of causing a water discharge activity on the 20 May 2022 contrary to regulation 38(1)(a) and regulation 12(1)(b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016).