Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and their contractor, United Utilities, were ordered to pay over £20,000 each after pleading guilty to polluting the Taf Fechan, in Pontsticill, with approximately 3 tonnes of waste aluminium sulphate.

Officers from Environment Agency Wales were called out on 13, August 2006 to an incident at the Pontsticill Water Treatment Works, near Merthyr Tydfil.

Both companies pleaded guilty to two charges:

causing polluting matter, namely aluminium sulphate, to enter controlled waters contrary to Section 85 (1) and (6) of the Water Resources Act

causing to flow into water or a tributary of waters containing fish certain liquid or solid matter to such an extent as to cause the said waters to be poisonous or injurious to fish or food of fish contrary to Section 4 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975

The court heard that the aluminium sulphate leaked from a waste chemical storage tank and polluted a 3 mile stretch of the Taf Fechan killing over 23,000 fish.

The case was brought by Environment Agency Wales at Merthyr Magistrates’ Court, sitting at Aberdare, on 17, September 2007.

Both companies were fined £16,500 each and ordered to pay costs of £4,184.80 to the Agency.

Merthyr Tydfil Angling Association, who owns the fishing rights to the Taf Fechan, had also suffered a substantial loss due to the pollution. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water contributed £23,000 to replace the fish killed during the incident.

Following the case, Senior Environment Officer, Jeff Edwards, said:

"The worst thing about this case is that the pollution and the resulting fish kill could have been avoided. Any site that keeps hazardous chemicals should have measures in place to control any accident or leak.

"Sadly, these preventative measures were lacking at the Pontsticill Water Treatment Works. What we want to see now is that the two companies learn from this case and look at the site in detail and make changes.

"We will help any company that is concerned about storing chemicals safely on their sites. They can get in touch with us or look at our website for more information."