Wiltshire company fined for Summer Isles silt pollution incident

Sepa received a complaint on 21 September about a “significant plume of silt” in Loch Broom’s Badentarbat Bay.

The environment watchdog carried out an inspection.

It said it found appropriate measures were not in place to prevent silt from being washed out into the bay during heavy rainfall.

John MacDonald, of Sepa’s north Highland and Northern Isles team, said SIE had been asked previously to have prevention measures installed.

He said: “Appropriate silt mitigation measures are crucial to prevent pollution of burns, rivers and lochs – especially during heavy rainfall events.

“Excessive silt can have an impact on water quality, harm aquatic ecosystems and impact infrastructure.”