Cleansing health spa pollutes stream (From The Argus)

Cleansing health spa pollutes stream

9:35am Tuesday 12th June 2007 in News By Rachel Wareing

A health spa has been fined £9,900 for polluting a stream.

Sewage from Wickwoods Health Club and Spa in Albourne, near Hurstpierpoint, was pumped into a nearby waterway without being properly treated.

Staff from the Environment Agency found levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) were 14 times the legal limit on one occasion, which is almost the level of raw sewage.

The higher the level of BOD, the more oxygen is stripped from the water, which can have a detrimental effect on fish and other wildlife.

They also discovered that levels of suspended solids - waste material floating in the water which can smother creatures living in the bed of the river - were as much as five times the legal limit.

The investigator also reported a smell of sewage and seeing sewage fungus in the water.

The company was also discharging sewage without a consent. The previous owners had held one but it had not been transferred to the new owners.

Environment Officer Claire Farmer said: "We issue consents and set limits to make sure that the environment is not put at risk.

"It is the responsibility of companies discharging sewage to make sure they are covered by an up- to-date consent and that the conditions of these are met.

" People should learn from this case that we will prosecute any one who ignores our recommendations."

The firm admitted polluting the river at Haywards Heath Magistrates' Court last Friday, after the Environment Agency produced the results of six tests carried out over the past seven months.

Reina Alston of Wickwoods said the company only realised there was a problem when they were contacted by the Environment Agency last November and they had acted fast to repair the damaged pump.

She said: "In January the conditions began to worsen again and we asked the Environment Agency if they could help us solve and rectify the position - their answer was that unfortunately they did not have the resources to help, they could only enforce the rules.

"Obviously we felt it correct to plead guilty of the summons as our sewage had failed the set criteria, but we are most certainly not guilty of ignoring the test results.

"We have found it very difficult to find a government body that could help us in an impartial way, and have had to revert to taking the advice of companies who although as helpful as they could be are of course involved in financial gain of equipment sold as a result.

"We would not wish the situation we have found ourselves in on our worst enemy."