LONDON, May 15 -- The government of the United Kingdom issued the following news:

ACornish farmer hasbeen told to payout£3,765after a spill of digestate at his farm led to a fish kill in the River Ottery.

Truro magistrates' court heard that Norman Osborne, 57, of Tobarn, Jacobstow, operated a farm near Warbstow, which was the scene of a major fish-kill incident in 2022.

Following the hearing on 13 May, Osborne was fined£215after pleading guilty tocausing a water dischargeactivity, andwastold to pay the Environment Agency's costs of£3,550.

Environment Agencyofficersresponded to reports of dead fish in the River Ottery on22 May 2022anddeterminedthat an estimated 2,300 gallons of digestate had entered the watercourse from a tank on Osborne's farm.

Digestate is a wet slurry-like material from the anaerobic digestion of waste food and other organic wastes which is used as a fertiliser. Itis highly polluting and can havevery highammonia and nitrogen levels.

A total of 471 dead fish were counted, with the true number estimated to be 1,610

The court heard that Osborne was transferring digestate from a tank toatanker to spread on hisfarmland, whena connecting hose broke.

The spilled digestate ran down the road and entered the nearby watercourse. This wasexacerbatedby Osborne washing thespilled digestate into the watercourse.Osbornefailed toreportthe incident to the EnvironmentAgency.

The spill will have caused high ammonialevels,and the watercourse was found tocontainsludge and microplastics.

Some 3.5km of watercourse was affected by the pollution. A total of 471 dead fish were counted, with the true number estimated to be 1,610.Deadfish includedAtlantic salmon,brown troutand bullheads.

The court heard that two years after the pollution, fish populations had still not recovered to historic levels.

Dead fish included Atlantic salmon, brown trout and bullheads

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

This pollution led toamajor fish kill andlasting damage to the watercourse. Osborne's failure to swiftly reportthe incident tothe Environment Agencyexacerbatedthesignificant impact of the spill.

Digestate is highly-polluting and should be handled with great care. If a pollution does occur, farmers must contact us as soon as possible so we canprovide them with guidance on mitigation or containment andtake actionto preventfurther harmto the environment.

Background

Norman Osborne was charged with one offenceof causing a water discharge activity on the 20May 2022 contrary to regulation 38(1)(a) and regulation 12(1)(b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016).

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