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EnvironmentandHeritage Service
Water PollutionIncidents
and Enforcement 2004
Annual Report
1. Sewage discharge into a watercourse
2. Milk discharging into a stream
3. Leachate entering a watercourse from illegal dumping
1.
2.
3.
Water PollutionIncidentsandEnforcement 2004
Annual Report
2
www.ehsni.gov.uk
Summary
This report presents statistical information relating to waterpollution
incidents throughout Northern Ireland investigated by, or on behalf of, the
Environment andHeritageService (EHS) during 2004. EHS responded to
2207 reports of waterpollution in 2004, a decrease of 13.2% from 2003. This
equates to almost 6 investigations per day. EHS substantiated (confirmed)
55.6% (1227) of the incidents reported as having an impact on water quality.
Pollution incidents are classified by Source (where the pollution originates),
Category (the type of pollution identified), Cause (why the incident occurred)
and Severity (the environmental impact of the pollution).
By Source, Industry accounted for the largest number of incidents
investigated by EHS (24.6%), followed by Farming (24.1%) and DRD Water
Service (23.6%). This is illustrated in Figure A.
By Category, Sewage (35.0%), Agriculture (24.1%) and Oil (18.5%) continued
the trend from 2003, accounting for the largest proportion of pollutant types
(77.6%). This is illustrated in Figure A.
Figure A: Distribution of substantiated
pollution incidents by Source and
Category, 2004
Water PollutionIncidentsandEnforcement 2004
3
The main Causes of waterpollution during 2004 were Equipment Failure
(20.6%) and Poor Working Practice (18.0%).
A total of 309 High and Medium severity incidents were investigated during
2004. This was a reduction of 9.7% compared to 2003 figures (339). Farming
was responsible for the largest proportion of High and Medium severity
incidents, (40.3%), which is an increase of 4.6% compared to last year’s figure.
EHS surpassed their target of responding to 95% of incidents assessed as High
or Medium Severity within 4 hrs, achieving a 95.8% response rate during 2004.
To date, for the incidents that occurred during 2004, EHS has issued 193
warning letters, 2 Water (NI) Order Notices and submitted 77 cases to the
Public Prosecution Service (PPS) (formerly the Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions) with a recommendation for prosecution. To date, 25 of these
cases have been heard in the Magistrate’s Courts and all have resulted in a
conviction.
For the incidents that occurred during 2003, EHS has issued 176 warning
letters, 2 Water (NI) Order Notices and submitted 122 cases to the PPS with
a recommendation for prosecution. To date, 97 cases have been heard in
the Magistrate’s Courts, with 94.8% resulting in a successful conviction. Of
the 92 successful convictions to date for pollutionincidentsand consent
breaches detected during 2003, the total fines so far imposed by the courts
is £71,900.00. These fines ranged from £100.00 to £3,500.00, with an average
fine of £807.87. Of the 122 cases taken by the Department under Articles 7
and 9 of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, the Category of Agricultural
discharges accounted for 59 (48.3%) with the remaining 63 (51.7%) made
up of Breach of Consent, Chemical, Non Agricultural Waste, Oil and Sewage
discharges.
The number of cases referred to the PPS in 2003 was the highest for a number
of years and represents a 23% increase over the number of cases referred to
PPS for incidents that occurred during 2002.
The WaterPollution Hotline (0800 80 70 60), continues to be promoted
by EHS. The number of incidents reported through this service during 2004
increased by 8.9% to 836, compared to 768 in 2003.
Contents
1. Introduction 7
1.1 Background 7
1.2 Waterpollution incident management 8
1.3 Structure of the WMU Regional Operations section 9
1.4 Responding to waterpollution reports 13
1.5 Legislation 14
1.6 WaterPollution Hotline 15
2. Analysis Of Incidents 17
2.1 Reported Incidents 17
2.2 Regional Distribution 18
2.3 Distribution by pollution Source 19
2.4 Trend in pollution Source 21
2.5 Distribution by pollutant Category 23
2.6 Trend in pollutant Category 25
2.7 Cause of Incidents 27
2.8 Trend in incident Cause 29
2.9 Analysis of Incidents by Severity 30
2.10 Response to High and Medium Severity incidents 35
2.11 Trend in response to High and Medium Severity incidents 36
2.12 Fish Kills 37
2.13 Significance of Fish Kills 38
2.14 Trend in Fish Kills 40
2.15 Notable incidents, 2004 41
3. Pollution Prevention 43
3.1 Performance Target 43
3.2 Point Source Discharge Control 43
3.3 Diffuse Pollution Control 46
3.4 Catchment Management 46
3.5 Customer Response 47
3.6 PollutionIncidents 47
3.7 Pollution Prevention Team Contact Details 47
4 Enforcement Action 48
4.1 Introduction 48
4.2 Enforcement Policy 48
4.3 Enforcement Procedure 49
4.4 Enforcement action taken during 2004 50
4.5 Enforcement action taken during 2003 50
4.6 Trend in Enforcement Action 51
4.7 Warning Letters 52
4.8 Notices issued under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 52
4.9 Recovery of Costs 53
ANNEX A: Pollution incident assessment criteria 54
ANNEX B: Reporting waterpollutionincidents to EHS 55
ANNEX C: Pollution incident statistics tables 56
ANNEX D: Fines imposed under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, for pollutionincidents that occurred during the period 1/1/03 - 31/12/03 (as at 22/9/05). 61
ANNEX E: The Joint Environment Agencies’ Pollution Prevention Guidelines
and Advice Leaflets. 63
Water PollutionIncidentsandEnforcement 2004
7
1. Introduction
This report presents statistical information relating to waterpollution
incidents throughout Northern Ireland investigated by, or on behalf of,
Environment & HeritageService (EHS), during 2004. Comparisons are made
with data from earlier years to allow the description of historical trends. The
data has been classified by Source (where the pollution originates), Category
(the type of pollution identified), Cause (why the incident occurred) and
Severity (the environmental impact of the pollution). This report also includes
details of enforcement action taken under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order
1999 for pollutionincidents that occurred during 2003 and2004.
1.1 Background
The Environment & HeritageService (EHS), an Agency within the Department
of the Environment (DOE), takes the lead in advising on, and implementing,
the Government’s environmental policy and strategy in Northern Ireland.
The overall aim of EHS is to protect and conserve the natural and built
environment and to promote its appreciation for the benefit of present and
future generations. Four directorates accomplish the work of EHS: Natural
Heritage, Built Heritage, Environmental Protection and Corporate Services.
Environmental Protection seeks to safeguard the quality of air, waterand
land. This involves the enforcement of legislation and a range of supporting
activities to monitor and report on discharges and emissions, to establish
the impacts of pollution, to set standards, and issue consent licences and
authorisations. Within Environmental Protection there are five discrete units
dealing with:
• Water management,
• Air quality and noise,
• Waste management,
• Industrial pollution, and
• Drinking water for public and private supplies.
Under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, the DOE has a duty to
promote the conservation of the water resources of Northern Ireland and the
cleanliness of water in waterways and underground strata. In exercising these
functions, the Department is required to have regard to:
• The needs of industry and agriculture;
• The protection of fisheries;
• The protection of public health;
• The preservation of amenity;
• The conservation of flora and fauna; and
• The conservation of geological or physiological features of special
interest, and any feature of archaeological, historical, architectural or
traditional interest.
It is the role of the Water Management Unit (WMU) of EHS to conserve,
protect and where possible improve both the freshwater and marine
aquatic environment in Northern Ireland. The WMU consists of scientific and
administrative staff located in Belfast and Lisburn, and field staff based at a
number of locations across Northern Ireland. The WMU protects the aquatic
environment through a variety of activities including:
8
www.ehsni.gov.uk
• Taking action to combat or minimise the effects of pollution;
• Monitoring of water quality;
• Preparing water quality management plans;
• Controlling effluent discharges;
• Supporting environmental research.
1.2 Waterpollution incident management
In exercising its duties in relation to pollution control, the EHS’s strategic
objectives are as follows:
• To ensure the protection of water quality and abatement of pollution in
the aquatic environment.
• To control effluent discharges to waterways and underground strata
through the process of granting consents under Article 9 of the Water
(Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
To achieve these objectives, Northern Ireland is divided into nine areas for the
purposes of waterpollution incident management, each area being served by
regionalised field staff, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Areas for waterpollution
incident management
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
9
3
Crown Copyright 2005, Permit No. 50253
[...]... in pollution attributed to Industrial Sources during 2004 There was no change noted in percentage of incidents attributed to DRD WaterService during 2004 Reports of pollution attributable to DRD WaterService are initially assessed by EHS and then forwarded to DRD WaterService for action and to the EHS WaterService Regulation Team who monitor the situation and progress This team also monitors and. .. Severity of pollution incidents, 2004 Substantiated Incidents As a % of the total High 23 1.9% Medium 286 23.3% Low 918 74.8% Total 1227 100% ���� Medium Low www.ehsni.gov.uk 30 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 Table 12 and Figure 19 detail the regional distribution and Severity of pollutionincidents during 2004 Table 12 & Figure 19: Regional distribution of incidents by Severity, 2004 Severity... field staff from six service providers (4 Group Environmental Health Committees, Fisheries Conservancy Board and Loughs Agency (until May 2004) ) who undertake a wide range of duties from pollution investigation to sampling www.ehsni.gov.uk 10 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 Group Environmental Health Staff Each of the nine waterpollution management areas has an Environmental Health (Rivers)... ���� www.ehsni.gov.uk 20 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 2.4 Trend in pollution Source Table 5 details the percentage change in pollution Source from 2003 – 2004and this is illustrated graphically in Figure 9 It is encouraging to note a decrease in pollution from Domestic (-3.1%) and Farm (-0.4%) Sources during 2004, however Farming remains a major source of pollution Unfortunately there... �� � �� � ������������������������� www.ehsni.gov.uk Figure 4: WaterPollution Hotline promotional material 16 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 2 Analysis Of Incidents This report presents statistical information relating to waterpollutionincidents throughout Northern Ireland investigated by, or on behalf of, EHS, during 2004 Comparisons are made with data from earlier years to allow... descriptors: Farm, Industry, Water Service, Domestic, Transport and Other “Other” Sources include incidents where the Source was not determined Table 3 details the distribution of pollution incidents by Source for 2004and this is illustrated in Figure 7 Table 3 & Figure 7: Waterpollution Sources, 2004 Source Substantiated Incidents As a % of the total Industry 302 24.7% Farm 296 24.1% WaterService 289 23.5%... Source www.ehsni.gov.uk 32 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 Table 14 and Figure 21 detail the Category and Severity of incidents investigated by EHS during 2004 These indicate that agricultural effluents, such as silage and slurry were involved in the majority of High and Medium Severity incidents (128), whereas Sewage was responsible for the majority of Low Severity incidents (357) Table... 977 396 2499 2004 552 284 836 324 787 260 2207 *EHS provided a service for reporting pollutionincidents prior to the launch of the Freefone WaterPollution Hotline in 1998 The Water Pollution Hotline is promoted through advertisement in telephone directories and on websites, and by business cards, posters and key fobs that are distributed at public events Figure 4 illustrates the WaterPollution Hotline... number of substantiated incidents investigated by EHS during 2004, followed by Farming (24.1%) and DRD WaterService (23.6%) 19 Table 4 details the regional distribution of pollution incidents by Source for 2004 Figure 8 illustrates how pollution Sources vary across NI due to population density and the type of industry present In highly populated regions, i.e Areas 5 and 6, DRD WaterService account for... 26 WaterPollutionIncidentsandEnforcement2004 2.7 Cause of Incidents EHS aims to identify the Cause of all reported pollutionincidents The Cause of pollution is recorded using ten descriptors; Poor working practice, Equipment failure, Accident / Emergency, Inadequate equipment, Negligence, Deliberate dumping, Weather, Breach of Consent, Other and Unknown Table 9 details the distribution of pollution . Environment and Heritage Service
Water Pollution Incidents
and Enforcement 2004
Annual Report
1. Sewage discharge into a watercourse
2
Water Pollution Incidents and Enforcement 2004
3
The main Causes of water pollution during 2004 were Equipment Failure
(20.6%) and Poor Working