Effluent run off

[JMTHORNLEY]

Can anyone tell me what the crack is with effluent run off into a water course please?
How much of a problem is it?

 

[Pan mixer]

A very big problem for anything living in the watercourse and a very expensive problem if you let this happen.

Do everything you can to avoid it happening.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Can anyone tell me what the crack is with effluent run off into a water course please?
How much of a problem is it?

Second only to raw milk in its devastation of watercourse ecology. It rapidly leads to near total de-oxygenation.

If caught it also leads to very hefty cleanup bills and large fines.

In EA parlance a Cat2 or Cat1 incident (depending on how much gets in relative to watercourse size).

 

[br jones]

You will be shot at dawn by the nrw if they caught you doing that in Wales,an instant shut down and court case

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

Very interesting. I knew what the case was just to what extent exactly. Had a debate with someone the other day and thought I’d ask you.
Dose it need to be sustained leakage or a one off event?

 

[le bon paysan]

One off or sustained keep plenty of vaseline handy.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

So an instant fine even if something has gone wrong? Not like the sh!t has been tipped right next to a water course or anything. The place in question is a concrete pad that usually has sand bags round it but it seems the bags have deteriorated and allowed some to run over the last few days not into anything I may add just close by. Just conceded it’ll end badly?

 

[Kidds]

Must be different rules around here as EA seemingly don't give a toss about slurry running down the road, slurry tanks emptied direct into a stream at regular intervals, slurry spread on waterlogged slopes immediately prior to a forecast very wet day etc etc. I don't think farmers do either in general as all the above happens on various farms around here quite often.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Typical Biological Oxygen Demand value for different pollutants

​	BOD (mg O2/litre of pollutant)​
Treated domestic sewage​	20 - 60​
Raw domestic sewage​	300 - 400​
Vegetable washings​	500 - 3000​
Dirty water (parlour washings, yard run off etc.)​	1000 - 2000​
Cattle slurry​	10 000 - 20 000​
Pig slurry​	20 000 - 30 000​
Silage effluent​	30 000 - 80 000​
Milk​	140 000​

The severity of an organic waste pollution incident will depend on the volume of waste and the amount of dilution once in a watercourse.

 

[dairyrow]

Would of thought raw sewage would of been higher

 

[jondear]

It says treated!

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Would of thought raw sewage would of been higher

Silage effluent 100 times worse than raw sewage. It makes you think a bit differently, doesn't it?

 

[Tarw Coch]

Second only to raw milk in its devastation of watercourse ecology. It rapidly leads to near total de-oxygenation.

If caught it also leads to very hefty cleanup bills and large fines.

In EA parlance a Cat2 or Cat1 incident (depending on how much gets in relative to watercourse size).

Don’t know how true it is but I was told many years ago the only thing worst than milk was whiskey, although quite how or why whiskey would be getting in a watercourse I don’t know.

 

[Kidds]

It says treated!

It also says raw and I would have said it was higher

 

[Netherfield]

We once got in trouble on a rented farm, old chap had just retired, we made the silage, he told us the collecting pit would need emptying regularly, I was going each day, come Sunday I asked my brother to do it, he didn't bother and come monday it overflowed in to the water course.
The water ran down some 3 miles towards Denby Dale, there some went into a mill dam.

Not only did it kill fish but also ruined a large amount of wool and stopped production at the mill, whole job went to court, unfortunately for the prosecution our barrister found they had made an error, he asked had they checked higher up the valley for effluent leaks, the answer was no, the whole case was dismissed by the judge on a technicality.

I think we dodged a bullet that day, although the Barrister didn't come cheap the fine could have been a whole lot worse, compensation to the mill had to be paid for by the authorities.

 

[Hooby Farmer]

We are no longer allowed to keep cattle in the farm sheds because of run off dad sacked the cattle in around 1999 because of it. We are the closet farm to a main watercourse in NI. The river doesn't just flow where it physically is but also runs under our farm about 3 ft down takes you to the water table. However we never had a problem but they wanted us to put in above ground tanks twice as big as we needed and either build or adapt our current sheds, probably cheaper to build new sheds. It would have been ok if they had offered some financial assistance but we would have had to do it on our own. Anytime there looked to be pollution in the river we were first port of call every time, really quite stressful.

 

[deleted user 837354]

As above, it will depend on the volume of the stuff that got in the watercourse and how big or fast flowing the watercourse was. A raging river in spate would probably dilute the stuff never to be seen again and no one would know anything about it. If they work out it was you the clipboards will descend and find what you have or haven't done.

Storing muck or anything near a river is asking for it. Best avoided. Also keep well away from rivers, streams, ditches etc when spreading.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Typical Biological Oxygen Demand value for different pollutants

​

​	BOD (mg O2/litre of pollutant)​
Treated domestic sewage​	20 - 60​
Raw domestic sewage​	300 - 400​
Vegetable washings​	500 - 3000​
Dirty water (parlour washings, yard run off etc.)​	1000 - 2000​
Cattle slurry​	10 000 - 20 000​
Pig slurry​	20 000 - 30 000​
Silage effluent​	30 000 - 80 000​
Milk​	140 000​

The severity of an organic waste pollution incident will depend on the volume of waste and the amount of dilution once in a watercourse.

I do remember getting quite a bit "thank f**k you stopped and looked" when a large whey storage lagoon blew out and headed for the Clutha river, I put a bucket over a culvert and the 8 M litres just went to the other side of the roadway and made a pond in our dairy paddock

that explains why it was such a biggie for the dairy company and why they bought me a new pair of wellies! Never really considered how bad it could have been

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

We once got in trouble on a rented farm, old chap had just retired, we made the silage, he told us the collecting pit would need emptying regularly, I was going each day, come Sunday I asked my brother to do it, he didn't bother and come monday it overflowed in to the water course.
The water ran down some 3 miles towards Denby Dale, there some went into a mill dam.

Not only did it kill fish but also ruined a large amount of wool and stopped production at the mill, whole job went to court, unfortunately for the prosecution our barrister found they had made an error, he asked had they checked higher up the valley for effluent leaks, the answer was no, the whole case was dismissed by the judge on a technicality.

I think we dodged a bullet that day, although the Barrister didn't come cheap the fine could have been a whole lot worse, compensation to the mill had to be paid for by the authorities.

I hope your brother paid the barrister's bill personally....

 

[R J]

How do the authorities look upon building livestock buildings close to watercourses these days ?