TENS of thousands of gallons of blood and bodily fluids from hospitals was discharged into drinking water over a period of more than a year.
A court was told rotting human tissue from facilities including the Countess of Chester Hospital would have found its way into the River Dee, which serves more than two million drinking-water customers in North Wales, Chester and Merseyside.
Eurocare Environmental Services, which runs the medical waste incinerator at Wrexham, admitted 10 charges relating to that plant and others in Birmingham and Newcastle after an investigation by the Environment Agency (EA).
Mark Harris, representing the EA, told magistrates there was a small risk to public health in relation to the illegal discharges into the Dee because of the presence of harmful organisms transferred from sick patients.
He said: 'Although the survival rate of those organisms varies widely from less than 24 hours to a number of months, conditions in the waste would be conducive to survival and it cannot be assumed all organisms in the waste loads would be dead upon arrival at Wrexham or that they would die off quickly thereafter.'
In addition, Mr Harris said the clinical waste was discharged along with untreated sewage and the releases would have included high levels of coliforms and E.coli.
He added: 'Nonetheless, expert assessment of the risks posed by the discharges suggests that, although it cannot be assumed sufficient to void the risk, the combination of distance and high dilution levels before the waste reached any part of the river at which water was abstracted, or where there was regular public access, would greatly reduce the risks to public health.'
The EA was tipped off by an ex-Eurocare employee who left the company in December 2000. He said clinical waste was discharged into a septic tank which overflowed into a disused drain known as the 'acid drain'.
This was supported by covert video cameras which filmed workers emptying liquid waste into the septic tank, often using a hose laid through a fire door. In the early hours of February 18, 2001, undercover EA officers intervened and discovered the hose led to a gunk tank which collected liquid seepage from medical waste bags.
Under the terms of the plant's authorisation such waste should either have been incinerated or removed from the site by a registered carrier.
A dye trace revealed the discharge entered the Red Wither Brook, a tributary of the River Clywedog, itself a tributary of the River Dee from which Dee Valley Water, United Utilities and Welsh Water extract drinking water.
In addition, records showed that on December 18 the septic tank was emptied by John Willis of Holme Farm, Ince, with 700-800 gallons of waste spread on his land without his knowledge that it contained clinical waste.
The company admitted causing controlled waste containing clinical waste to be deposited on land without a licence.
Eurocare also pleaded guilty to conducting an illegal clinical waste transfer operation at Wrexham and two charges of making false statements about the design of the plant.
Wrexham magistrates considered their sentencing powers insufficient and the case was committed to Mold Crown Court for sentencing. The company has agreed to pay £115,000 costs. [25a0] LAWYERS for Eurocare accepted responsibility for the misdemeanours at Wrexham but claimed to have inherited problems from the previous owners.
Angela Morris, defending, said senior management at Eurocare initially had no knowledge of the discharges taking place after buying the company in February 2000. An instruction to cease the practice, once it was discovered, was ignored by staff.
She said: 'Senior management had no idea what the employees were doing in terms of feeding the waste from the gunk tank into the septic tank. When they did discover it they thought they had stopped it. Unfortunately, it went on.'
Mrs Morris said problems relating to false statements about the design of the plant stemmed from an authorisation application prepared by the previous owner and the fact that when Eurocare took over the company it 'took over the employees as well'. She said Eurocare was a first offender and none of the problems had arisen due to a commercial motivation.
Managing director Larry Jones, who was present at the hearing, did not wish to comment.
