Fertiliser manufacturer OMEX Agriculture Ltd has been ordered to pay a total of £510,190 after a faulty pipe leaked deadly fertiliser into the River Witham in Lincolnshire, killing more than 135,000.
The Environment Agency brought the prosecution after some three million litres of liquid urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) concentrate fertiliser escaped from a storage lagoon at Bardney into the River Witham and its tributaries in March 2018.
Fertiliser was held in two sealed ‘bladder’ bag lagoons, both holding the equivalent liquid of three Olympic swimming pools, or 7.5 million litres.
Pipework, operated by an electronic pump system, was used to pump liquid fertiliser from the two lagoons to holding tanks elsewhere on their site. Road tankers were filled from these, they then transported the fertiliser for sale. The pump system was manual until 2017, when it was updated to an automated system by the company’s electrical contractor.
Ultimately, it was the failure of both the overground pipe and an electrical fault that went unnoticed and enabled the pump to continue pumping that led to the discharge of pollution which affected the river for 46 km to The Wash.
OMEX Agriculture Ltd pleaded guilty on 12 June 2023 to the major category 1 pollution incident at Lincolnshire Magistrates. They were ordered to pay a fine of £160,000, ordered to pay costs of £350,000 and a victim surcharge of £190.
After the verdict, Leigh Edlin, Environment Agency area director for Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, commented, “The pollution of the River Witham by OMEX was a devastating event and one of the largest environmental incidents we have seen in Lincolnshire. Today marks the end of the legal process and we are rightly pleased with the result in the court. This is one part of a much larger effort, led by the Environment Agency, to ensure the River Witham is restored and that the polluter pays financially and legally.”