Costain is to donate £55,000 to Tyne Rivers Trust after polluting a river during A19 upgrades in South Tyneside.
An investigation by the Environment Agency found that Costain had washed down dirty water into highway drains and into the River Don
Costain had an environmental permit which allowed it to discharge water treated by a sediment treatment facility into the River Don during work to the A19 at Testo's roundabout.
On December 6, 2019, while works were being carried out, an Environment Agency officer in the area reported a plume of sediment in the river.
Following a dry spell of weather, the company had decided to jet wash and sweep the road surface to remove a build up of mud.
However, the road sweeper was not powerful enough to suck up all of the dirty water and instead the contaminated water ran directly into highway drains, bypassing the company’s sediment treatment measures, and into the River Don.
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