Welsh Water Fined for Sewage Overflow

WELSH Water has been fined pounds 10,000 after raw sewage leaked into a tributary of the River Cynon, near Aberdare, and killed 1,800 fish.

Environment Agency Wales brought the prosecution after its officers found significant amounts of sewage within the Nant-y- Wenallt stream in July of last year.

Investigations by Welsh Water revealed a blockage caused a sewage overflow to discharge directly into the stream. The company was also ordered to pay costs of pounds 4,420 by Aberdare magistrates after admitting causing the sewage to enter the tributary.

Low-cost homes for local people plan

A DEVELOPMENT of more than 100 homes aimed at those unable to afford property on the open market could be ready in the next 18 months.

Plans to build 106 houses in Ammanford have been finalised and will go before Carmarthenshire Council for planning approval later this year.

If approved, the new homes will be sold to Carmarthenshire residents who cannot otherwise afford to buy homes.

Prices have not yet been set but should be low as the council is providing the land at no cost, while their partners in the scheme, Gwalia, will sell at the cost of building.

Cancer protection and risk from the Pill

TAKING the contraceptive pill over a short period may reduce a woman’s chances of developing certain cancers – but taking it for too long may increase the risk, scientists said yesterday.

Women who take the Pill can have up to a 12% lower risk of developing certain forms of the disease, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

But the same research showed women who used the pill for more than eight years had a significantly higher risk of developing all forms of cancer, particularly cervical and central nervous system cancer.

Welsh researchers on thinning ice

RESEARCH by scientists from a Welsh university has found glaciers are melting at four times the rate they were in the 1930s.

Joint research carried out by academics from Swansea University and the Norwegian Polar Institute measured acceleration in the thinning rate on the Western Svalbard glaciers in Northern Norway.

The findings from the Natural Environment Research Council- funded project were published in the US journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The results confirm climate change experts’ fears over the future of the glaciers.

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