Fertiliser manufacturer fined £500k for polluting river

Omex Agriculture, a Lincolnshire-based manufacturer of liquid fertiliser and plant nutrition products, has been fined more than £500,000 after a catastrophic leak caused large-scale pollution in a local river.

In a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency (EA), Lincolnshire Magistrates’ Court was told a 28-mile stretch of the River Witham was polluted with nearly 3m litres of liquid urea ammonium nitrate fertiliser after an overground pipe attached to a lagoon failed.

See also: Landowner fined £15k after cattle attacks on walkers

The escaped fertiliser also affected about 3ha of woodland, which subsequently had to be felled, and more than a tonne of dead fish were removed from the river. The EA restocked more than 1.5 million fish to replace the thousands that were killed. 

The incident was deemed a Category 1 pollution, which is the most severe of three EA ratings used to grade environmental disturbances.

The district judge termed the disaster “avoidable”, had proper checks been made, and called it an act of “negligence”.

Leigh Edlin, Environment Agency area director for Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, said: “The pollution of the River Witham by Omex was a devastating event and one of the largest environmental incidents we have seen in Lincolnshire.

“The Environment Agency has worked tirelessly to undo the damage.”

Omex pleaded guilty and has been ordered to assess whether further fish restocking efforts will be required.