A VINEGAR company has been fined £500 for polluting a tributary of Pendle Water.

Fisher Quality Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to causing vinegar waste to enter the unnamed tributary from Clough Springs Brewery in Wheatley Road, Barrowford.

They were also ordered by Pennine magistrates at Reedley to pay £637 costs to the Environment Agency which brought the prosecution.

Magistrates were told that a member of the public reported heavy foaming and discoloration of the tributary on February 27 last year.

Agency Environment Protection Officer Nick Hepworth investigated and found the stream was foaming and grey. The bed of the watercourse was covered with fungus.

Liz Bowen, prosecuting, said there was a leak from the retaining wall of the Clough Springs Brewery. There was a strong smell of vinegar growing stronger near to the point of the leak which she said was consistent with vat washings from the site.

Between 500 and 700 gallons of vinegar, yeast and brewery waste had been emptied into a drain on the site.

Mr Hepworth investigated the drainage system and found a manhole chamber, which took effluent from the vat compound, was badly corroded.

Miss Bowen said the company was told to use a pump and sandbags to prevent further pollution reaching the stream.

A survey of the drainage system found cracked piping, collapsed drains and five manholes needed to be replaced.

Various visits were carried out to the site before the incident and the company was asked to carry out repairs before emptying vat washings.

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