IowaCapitalDispatch.com
Bycott Farm of Halberton, Devon, was fined £4,300 for polluting a watercourse with slurry. The company was additionally ordered to pay £1,765 and a victim surcharge of £190 for two charges that include an incident of disposal of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution or harm human health. Environmental Agency officers traced the source of pollution back to the farms where owners Stephen and Tom Dibble confirmed that water from yards between cattle sheds drained to a pipe discharging water into a stream.
Investigations two months later found polluted water still flowing into the ditch where thick sewage fungus was visible for more than two kilometres downstream. In an interview with the Envionment Agency Stephen Dibble said the dairy herd had an increase in size in recent years to over 1,000 cows.