SOUTH West Water was fined last week after sewage was discovered in a ditch beside Winkleigh Primary School.
South West Water was ordered to pay £2,150 in fines and costs for polluting the village stream last July. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
The agency responded immediately after sewage was discovered in a ditch adjoining the primary school on July 14 last year. A pollution officer found a 'grey liquid' flowing down the ditch and into a drain. He noticed a strong smell of sewage.
An inspection of a sewage pumping station at Bullow View, Winkleigh revealed the station was operating normally with no sign of any problems.
However, the following day contractors discovered a blockage in a foul sewer in Farmer Franks Lane that was causing crude sewage to overflow into the Bullow Brook via an outfall.
The pollution contaminated a 1.5 kilometre stretch of the Bullow Brook, below Stony Bridge. A 'thick growth' of sewage fungus in the brook suggested the discharge had occurred over several days.
The pollution was serious enough for the Environment Agency to warn two local landowners downstream of the outfall to keep any livestock away from the river.
Andrew Leyman of of the Environment Agency said: 'This incident caused a serious deterioration in water quality in the Bullow Brook and reduced the use of the stream for livestock watering. Water companies must do everything within their powers to prevent this type of pollution from harming the environment.'
South West Water was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,150 costs by North Devon Magistrates sitting at Barnstaple last Thursday (February 19) after pleading guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter a controlled water.
The court heard that South West Water had a consent to discharge to the Bullow Brook at Stony Bridge from the pumping station at Bullow View, but did not have permission for a storm or emergency overflow from the foul sewer at Farmer Franks Lane, Winkleigh.