R v Dovermoss Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 03 February 1995 |
| Date | 03 February 1995 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Mr Justice Potts and Mr Justice Mitchell
Environmental protection - water pollution "controlled waters"
For the purposes of section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991 the meaning of the word "pollute" was that given in the Oxford English Dictionary; and the words "controlled waters" in section 85, as defined by sections 104(1)(c) and 221, applied to watercourses such as streams, ditches, drains, and so on, even if such watercourses overflowed or dried up.
The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, so held in allowing an appeal by Dovermoss Ltd against its conviction in May 1994 at Carmarthen Crown Court (Judge Prosser, QC and a jury) of pollution contrary to section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991 for which they were fined £500 and ordered to pay £,1000 towards the costs of the prosecution.
Section 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991 provides: "(1) A person contravenes this section if he causes or knowingly permits any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any solid waste matter to enter any controlled waters."
Section 104 provides: "(1) … controlled waters are … (c) inland freshwaters, that is to say, the waters of any relevant lake or pond or of so much of any relevant river or watercourse as is above the fresh-water limit…"
Section 221 provides "… `watercourse' includes … all rivers, streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers and passages through which water flows, except mains and other pipes which … (b) are used by a water undertaker … for the purpose only of providing a supply of water to any premises…"
Mr Geraint A Jones for the appellant; Mr Richard Griffiths and Miss Julie Vallack for the prosecution.
LORD JUSTICE STUART-SMITH, giving the judgment of the court, said that the National Rivers Authority, who brought the prosecution, alleged that the appellant company caused slurry to be put on to fields 1 and 2 at a time when the watercourse of a stream ran through field 2.
The fields were adjacent to the Welsh Water treatment works at Llawddog in Dyfed. As a result of the slurry being applied, the raw, subterranean, water became contaminated.
Taste complaints were received from consumers and on examination of the source water at Llawddog it was revealed that ammonia at 0.15 milligrams per litre was present whereas there was usually less than 0.01 milligrams present.
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