Hydrodec Australia Pty Ltd has been ordered to pay more than $22,000 by the Downing Centre Local Court after pleading guilty to an Environment Protection Authority (EPA) water pollution charge for a 2013 incident near Burrangong Creek in Young.
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The penalty includes a $10,000 fine as well as $10,000 for EPA legal costs and $2,327 for EPA investigation costs.
The offence involved the pollution of a natural stormwater channel leading to Burrangong Creek, on May 28 2013, when a container holding approximately 220 litres of highly alkaline sodium hydroxide solution ruptured and spilt its contents at Hydrodec’s waste oil treatment premises in Young.
Some of the sodium hydroxide solution flowed directly into a stormwater drain before more of it was washed down later in the day when Hydrodec employees hosed down the spilt solution and flushed the drain with water.
While it is uncertain how much of the contaminated water ended up in the stormwater system, approximately 80 to 90 metres of the open stormwater channel that leads to Burrangong Creek was polluted.
Young Fire and Rescue NSW pumped out up to 11,000 litres of sodium hydroxide solution mixture as part of the clean-up.
The EPA’s director south branch, Gary Whytcross said that fortunately the chemical mixture did not reach Burrangong Creek thanks to the quick actions of Fire and Rescue NSW. However the spill had the potential to harm the ecology and any animals using the channel.
“All licensees have a responsibility to ensure that their operations are conducted in a manner that does not cause potential harm to the surrounding environment,” Mr Whytcross said.
“In this instance Hydrodec should have had better operating procedures to prevent the incident from occurring in the first place, and should have employed better clean up measures to manage the chemical once it had spilt to prevent it from entering the stormwater system.
“This includes taking immediate action to contain the spill using the spill kit that was located nearby, ensuring that staff knew how to respond to a chemical spill, appropriately labelling stormwater drains, and seeking advice from the EPA.
“The decision by the company to wash the highly alkaline solution down the drain only spread the risk and increased the work required to clean it up.”
