Around 9:30 am, between 6 and 7 tonnes of fish were found dead in a fish farm downstream of a pumping station. Surveys indicated that the ELORN River was affected over a 1-km stretch; the wild fauna of the river, including insects, was decimated. The herbarium was burned and the cadaver of a calf was also discovered.
Departmental health services were informed, and representatives of the local fishing trade, the Deputy Prefect, the press and the gendarmerie all visited the site. A meeting was attended by the Deputy Prefect and elected officials. The pumping station operator activated the backup treatment device by injecting activated carbon in powder form into the pumped water. The gendarmerie performed a water sampling campaign; the samples were sent to a private laboratory. The analyses conducted quickly displayed that the water extraction located downstream were not threatened. During the intervention of emergency crews, a fire-fighter sprained his ankle, then fell victim to vagal distress.
On 12th July in the evening, the pumping station operator discovered an 800-litre “chlorine” (sodium hypochlorite?) leak inside the installations subsequent to malfunction of a new metering pump on the filter cleaning circuit. The next day, results from the analyses confirmed the presence of chlorine (Cl2) in the water.
According to the fish farm operator, who estimated his losses at €50,000, the pollution occurred during the night of 10th to 11th July, with his most recent patrol round having been completed at 10:30 pm under normal conditions.
On 19th July, a new set of analyses did not detect the presence of weed killer and chlorine product in the samples extracted at the Loc-Eguiner and Plouedern pumping stations. With the pollution source having been identified, the prosecutor did not request any additional analyses. The Landivisiau gendarme unit proceeded with the necessary hearings, including questioning of the station operator. Several complaints were filed by the fish farmer, the fishermen’s association and an environmental association (as plaintiffs) and the basin authority.
