Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

A quarry was flooded twice by heavy rains caused by Storm Eleanor. Both times, the floodwaters were discharged into the River Savoureuse.

  • First event (January 2018): flooding of the quarry head choked one tank with mud from extensive gullying and caused water to enter the oil tank of a crusher. Stones at the bottom of a second tank caused a pump and a scraper arm of a clarifier to fail. A third tank overflowed, discharging unclarified water into the River Savoureuse. The operator estimated that 37,900 m³ of rain had fallen (the minimum volume of the containment zone imposed by a 2016 prefectoral order is 36,000 m³).
  • Second event (March 2018): ice in the third pond, combined with turbulence from incoming clarified water, resulted in water laden with suspended solids being discharged into the River Savoureuse.

The inspection authorities for classified facilities found, amongst other breaches, that the operator had failed to control the discharge of water from the quarry. As the tanks had not been maintained in good condition, they were not up to water overflow standards.

After the accident, the operator plans to:

  • install an automatic tank pumping system (to adjust the levels in the tanks during episodes of heavy rain when the quarry is closed);
  • reduce the mesh size on the pump strainers;
  • install a volume flow meter and a ditch around the flood-prone area.