About 1600 litres of a caustic soda solution was discharged from Boag’s Brewery into a Launceston stormwater drain earlier this month.
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The solution contained 46 per cent caustic soda, and was detected by the company at 3.30pm on April 13.
The discharge process was stopped by 4pm.
A spokeswoman for the Environment Protection Authority said they were notified of the spill by 11am the following day, and TasWater’s supervisor at the Ti Tree Bend plant was also advised, in line with the conditions of the Environment Protection Notice under which Boag’s is regulated.
The notice requires the EPA be notified of a spill within 24 hours.
TasWater and the EPA were notified as soon as the issue was identified, and the cleaning detergent did not enter the river.
- Boag's spokeswoman
A spokeswoman for Boag’s Brewery said an internal cleaning system had failed, resulting in the release of cleaning detergent into the drainage system.
“TasWater and the EPA were notified as soon as the issue was identified, and the cleaning detergent did not enter the river,” she said.
Boag’s has since identified a fail safe for the cleaning system and provided an incident report to the EPA and TasWater.
