23 February 2007
Scottish Water has been fined £5,000 for knowingly permitting detergent to enter the River Almond on the outskirts of Perth.
Back in 2005, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) informed the water supplier about chemicals leaking into the supply line, but Scottish Water failed to send out any staff to address the issue for several hours.
The trial, which was heard this week, involved the court hearing how when the supplier's staff did arrive, they failed to sandbag the leak that day, despite repeated requests from Sepa, resulting in the deaths of thousands of fish.
Sepa officer Pauline Silverman told edie.net: "It is disappointing that Scottish Water failed to mitigate the pollution incident when it had an opportunity and obligation to do so.
"Blocking the flap valve at the outfall would have stopped some of the detergent from reaching the river, however this was not done until the following day."
Scottish Water is a relatively new supplier, replacing East of Scotland Water, North of Scotland Water and West of Scotland Water. It currently has around five million customers in 2.2 million households.
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