Two farming partnerships have been issued civil penalties totalling £10,400 by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) following pollution of watercourses in Perthshire and Stirling.
A penalty of £6,700 has been issued to J & A R Reid, near Scone, after silage effluent adversely impacted two burns over several months in 2023. Meanwhile a £3,700 penalty was served on R & R Gray, near Dunblane, after slurry pollution affected more than two and a half kilometres of watercourse in 2024.
Both penalties were Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs), one of the enforcement tools available to SEPA as part of a range of measure to protect and improve Scotland’s environment. In both cases, the level of penalty took into account the co-operation of those responsible and actions taken to prevent further reoccurrence.
SEPA officers launched an investigation following public complaints of strong odours, discoloured water and fungal growth in the Langley and Anatty Burns during August 2023. They confirmed the presence of sewage fungus and noted strong odours affecting a 150-metre stretch of the Langley Burn and 50 metres of the Anatty Burn.
The pollution was traced to a leak of silage effluent from the farm operated by J & A R Reid. Investigations revealed that the silage store was full and stacked above its design capacity, and that a faulty section of effluent pipework was discharging into the surface water drainage system, which ultimately led to the water environment.
Analysis of water samples taken by the officers confirmed significantly elevated levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and phosphorus downstream of the discharge. SEPA ecologists observed excessive fungal growth and dead invertebrates along a 300-metre stretch of the watercourses, with impacts extending close to a designated Special Area of Conservation. In addition to the VMP, J & A R Reid was required to pay SEPA costs of £2,010.
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