Uisce Éireann fined for chemical spill that killed tens of thousands of fish in north Cork river

Uisce Éireann pleaded guilty to one of three pollution charges in a case brought by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). The other two charges were withdrawn although not part of a plea deal.

Andrew Gillespie, senior fisheries environmental officer with the IFI, responded to a call on Sunday, June 9, about an issue at Freemount water treatment plant in north Cork and arrived at about 3pm.

Staff there had found chemical spillage on site which had discharged straight into the river Allow.

The water treatment centre was “crawling” with staff trying to clean up the chemical spill and taking water samples from the river and grounds.

The river Allow is a significant spawning and nursery catchment for salmon and trout and is popular for recreation, the court heard.

Approximately 4km downstream of the water treatment facility at St Johns Bridge, the damage was very visible, Mr Gillespie told Mallow District Court.

“I saw a lot of dead fish, and smaller juvenile fish. There were dead fish of lots of species,” Mr Gillespie said.

Some fish were still in the process of dying so Mr Gilliespie knew it was an active fish kill.

At another point in the river there were also significant fish mortalities and no live fish. Mr Gillespie said: 

The pollution had moved downstream and done its damage. 

The source of the spill, a large bulk storage tank, contained polyaluminium chloride, a highly corrosive and “quite hazardous” chemical used in very small quantities to clarify water. It bonds particles and organic material to form bigger fragments which can then be filtered out of water.

Judge Colm Roberts said that it reminded him of people putting bleach in poitín to clarify the liquid.

Pipes were not 'double bunded'

Although the bulk tank was double bunded, with two layers of containment, as is required for storing corrosive chemicals, the pipework had not been double bunded. This pipework became damaged and leaked.

Very dark brown unpleasant-looking material was found near the spill site and nearby vegetation “seemed to be wilting,” Mr Gillespie said.

At St Johns bridge, no small fish were still alive but some of the larger ones were swimming in a haze, not responding to potential threats.

Fish that live in the river bed had been driven up to the surface by the chemical spill to die.

At a bridge upstream at Killberrihert, hundreds of dead fish were found, after the polyaluminium chloride had damaged their gills, so their respiratory system would no longer work.

'Tens of thousands' of fish killed 

Mr Gillespie estimated “conservatively” that there were 10,000 fish killed in the spill, but the number was really likely to be tens of thousands, with the pollution killing fish up to 8km downriver from the source, extending through some 40,000sq metres of river.

But accurately documenting a fish kill is difficult because many dead fish will be picked off by birds and otters, others will float too far down stream to be counted and the bodies of others will get lost in vegetation and under rocks.

But no dead fish were found upstream of Freemount Bridge while no live fish were found for 8k downstream, Mr Gillespie said.

And fish found downstream were “completely discoloured” with the corrosive chemical quickly starting to degrade their flesh.

Significant discolouration was also found in the river bed, turning things a pale, ghostly grey.

“Everything seems to be bleached, a pale colour,” Mr Gillespie said.

Staff's efforts to contain spill 

But the situation could have been “five times worse,” he said.

Staff at Freemount made significant efforts to contain the spill once it was found.

The Allow contained fish that are under threat as a species and others that are rare to find up river over weirs and it had freshwater pearl mussels which live for over 100 years so would take a long time to recover.

“The river will fix itself in time,” Mr Gillespie said.

Judge Roberts replied: “That’s if we still have a planet.” 

Changes at Freemount water treatment plant

Changes have been made at the plant since the spill.

Polyaluminium chloride is now stored in two smaller bunded tanks on trays to help catch potential leaks with security screening around them, the court heard.

And €100,000 had been spent on bunding equipment like pipes, Aoife Sheehan, barrister for Uisce Éireann said.

The clean-up cost €65,000, she said.

And information on the spill and clean up was shared with the IFI and the EPA.

Changes had been made and more improvements were planned to the infrastructure, she said.

And a chemical safety project has been launched nationwide by Uisce Éireann in response to the spill, she said.

About 3,000 people are served by Freemount but the quality of their water was not affected by the spill, the court heard.

Uisce Éireann pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had made immediate efforts to address the problem.

Judge Roberts acknowledged that Uisce Éireann had taken over some very old infrastructure when it was formed and it did not have the budget it may want.

But he had concerns that chemical safety issue which led to this spill had not been picked up during the audit of facilities when Uisce Éireann took over.

And the spill had now done “quite significant and irreparable damage” Judge Roberts said.

'I have to convict,' says judge

Although Freemount water treatment centre had no previous convictions, Uisce Éireann had 18 previous similar convictions since 2015.

Solicitor for the IFI, Vincent Coakley, said that although Uisce Éireann did what they could to respond to the situation, it was then a case of ‘closing the stable door’.

“I have to convict, it’s too serious not to,” Judge Roberts said. “I take into account the guilty plea.” 

He fined Uisce Éireann €3,500 with one month to pay (out of a maximum fine of €5,000).

He also ordered the body to pay legal costs of over €3,000.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again, for many reasons,” Judge Roberts said.