A COMPANY which runs a Mersea pig farm has been fined £15,000 after pig slurry polluted a ditch which drains into the Colne Estuary.

AM Gray & Co admitted causing water pollution after the waste from Bocking Hall Pig Farm got into a ditch leading to the Pyefleet Channel.

At Chelmsford Magistrates Court yesterday, the firm also admitted failing to notify the Environment Agency the first time.

They were fined £15,000, plus costs and victim surcharge totalling £3,696.90.

The court heard the pig efluent was stored in containment tanks until they were full, when they were pumped into earth-banked lagoons.

After heavy rainfall last winter, the lagoons became full and the slurry overflowed into drainage ditches connecting to the channel - a site of international conservation importance for birds.

The first incident happened on January 23. An investigating officer told the company slurry storage had to be rigorously monitored, but a second incident occurred in March.

Speaking after the hearing, director John Gray said he felt the company had been treated harshly and insisted no animals had been harmed as a result.

He said the company had worked with the agency to pump contaminated water to the lagoon and damm the channels.

He said: “Basically, we have been the victim of what was the wettest year on record - the worst in 100 years.

“The land all round the reservoir couldn’t hold another drop.

“The Environment Agency has been quite strict on us but we pleaded guilty because it did happen.”