A NORTH Cornwall farmer has been told to pay £3,765 after a spillage led to a fish kill in the River Ottery.

Truro Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday (May 13) that Norman Osborne of Tobarn, Jacobstow, operated a farm near Warbstow which was the site of a major incident on May 22, 2022. Environment Agency officers responded to reports of dead fish in the River Ottery and determined that an estimated 2,300 gallons of digestate had entered the watercourse from a tank on Osborne’s farm.

Digestate is a wet slurry-like material from the anaerobic digestion of waste food and other organic wastes, which is used as a fertiliser. It is highly polluting and can have very high ammonia and nitrogen levels.

The court heard that Osborne, 57, was transferring digestate from a tank to a tanker to spread on his farmland when a connecting hose broke. The spillage ran down the road and entered the nearby watercourse, exacerbated by Osborne washing the spilled digestate into the watercourse. He failed to report the incident to the Environment Agency.

Approximately 3.5km of watercourse was affected by the pollution, with high ammonia levels, sludge and microplastics. A total of 471 dead fish were counted, with the true number estimated to be 1,610, including Atlantic salmon, brown trout and bullheads. The court was told fish population levels had still not recovered, two years on.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Osborne pleaded guilty to causing a water discharge activity. He was fined £215 and told to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £3,550.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Digestate is highly polluting and should be handled with great care. If pollution does occur, farmers must contact us as soon as possible so we can provide them with guidance on mitigation or containment and take action to prevent further harm to the environment.”