Moorebank company fined after pond surface burns
An intense fire that saw flames emerge from stormwater drains and burn across the top of a Moorebank Pond has seen Sphere Healthcare ordered to pay $361,000 in fines and investigation costs for polluting water and investigation costs, by the NSW Land and Environment Court.
A fire broke out at the Moorebank facility before escalating when plastic drums filled with about 31,500 litres of ethanol, used to make hand sanitiser caught alight. The drums were stacked close to a drainage system, melted and spilled into stormwater drains that then flowed to Clinches Pond Public Reserve, where blue flames were seen burning on the surface of the pond.
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Director Metro West, James Goodwin said the company should have shown more care storing highly flammable liquids.
“Sphere Healthcare paid scant regard to the risks associated with storing such dangerous material,” Mr Goodwin said.
“Ideally drums containing flammable liquid should be kept in a special flammable goods store with an impervious barrier to stop any spills.
“As a result of not properly containing the liquids the water contamination saw a significant number of fish and eels killed.
“The consequences of not putting in any form of spillage containment led to a very serious water pollution event that was catastrophic for the nearby pond and a clear health and safety risk for all residents living nearby.”
The event occurred in July 2020 and the Land and Environment Court noted it was foreseeable and avoidable. The judge noted that Sphere Healthcare stored the ethanol close to open drains and did not have equipment to block those drains in the event of an emergency.
Following the fire, the EPA ordered Sphere Healthcare to clean up its facility and Clinches Pond. Close to 1,500,000 litres of contaminated water was removed from the lake as well as a large volume of dead fish and eels. Another 250,000 litres of contaminated water was removed from stormwater pits under the facility.
Mr Goodwin said the system has mostly recovered, two years after the remediation effort, which was entirely paid for by Sphere Healthcare, but it will take years for larger fish to return.
“The clean-up alone cost Sphere Healthcare $450,000 - when fines and investigation costs are added, the fire has seen expenses of around $800,000.
“The EPA’s regulations and guidelines are there to protect the community and the environment but this incident shows that not taking the proper precautions can have a real impact on the bottom line of a business as well.
“Doing the right thing by the environment and community is more than just a feel-good measure, it’s a sound business decision.”