The Welsh government-sponsored environmental regulator says that while it is committed to pursuing environmental offenders through the courts, it is also open to such enforcement undertakings and civil sanctions, which benefit the community and allow Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to use its resources to pursue other offenders.
The two recent cases saw Welsh Water pay more than £100,000 to charities after the utility accepted that it has breached permit conditions.
In the first case, a breach of permit conditions took place at Ty Gwyn sewage treatment works near Buckley, where a faulty hydrobrake which controls the flow of water to the works, caused raw sewage to discharge into the Foundry Drain, a tributary of the River Alyn over a two year period.
Welsh Water made a contribution of £40,000 to the Welsh Dee Trust to complete the River Alyn catchment habitat survey work and implement projects to improve the Alyn catchment, £10,000 to the Wrexham and District Fly Fishing Club and £20,000 to the North Wales Wildlife Trust to support habit improvements in Alyn and the Anglesey Fens Living Landscapes Scheme.
In the second case, aluminium levels from the Alwen Water Treatment Works – a Welsh Water drinking water treatment works near Corwen – exceeded permit conditions after a fault on an inlet valve allowed sediment build up from a back-up valve to enter the river. Aluminium in acidic waters increases toxicity to fish and the River Alwen at the point of entry is acidic.
In response, Welsh Water made a contribution of £27,000 to the Marine Conservation Society to support their Wales-wide ‘Wet Wipes Turn Nasty When You Flush Them’ campaign which will improve the marine environment along the Welsh coast, and £5,000 to the Welsh Dee Trust to help with their projects to improve spawning habitat in River Alwen catchment. In addition Welsh Water paid £3,488 and £2,692 in costs to NRW.
Jane Chapman, Principal Solicitor for NRW, explained: “Our role is to ensure businesses can operate successfully without harming people and the environment, this may involve prosecution but in certain cases it can be in the public interest to look at options other than a court case.
“This approach is an example of NRW fulfilling its key role for the greater good of the wider community.”
“Using enforcement undertakings saves NRW time and money and frees up our legal resources to pursue and prosecute other environmental offenders.
“Enforcement undertakings can be offered by any party provided a relevant offence has been committed.
“We can only use them for certain offences but they can help us to ensure organisations comply with the law, eliminate any financial gain and get them to carry out their business responsibly.”