Water polluters attacked by FoE
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by Karen Miles • Friends of the Earth has attacked the Environment Agency for a "hopeless" prosecution record of water polluters—including hauliers.
The environmental pressure group says that the legal limits on water pollution were breached more than 2,000 times in the year to September 1996, but only 17 companies were prosecuted.
However, the Environment Agency has rejected FoE's criticism, saying that it always prosecutes after a major pollution incident and that most incidents do not cause "any measurable" pollution.
The agency says that, although the water polluter figures cover all companies and organisations, road transport operators represent a growing proportion of them.
In June the agency published its report of water pollution incidents in England and Wales for 1996. Operations Director Archie Robertson, said he expected hauliers to reduce the number of pollution incidents for which they were responsible.
Milk leaking from tankers is a major pollutant—it is up to 200 times more deadly to river life than an equal amount of raw sewage. Leaked diesel and beer also create major problems.