Consider the following case:

Cambridge Water Company v. Eastern Counties Leather.

Since 1879, ECL has manufactured leather at its Sawston works in Cambridgeshire. The process used organochlorine chemicals. Trichloroethene was used until the mid 1960s and from then on perchloroethene. In the 1970s scientific evidence emerged that the chemicals used were a potential threat to health. In the 1980s the EC and WHO (World Health Organisation) set drinking water standards that allowed very small amounts of the chemicals in drinking water: wholesome water should contain no more than 1 (gl-1 organochlorines max admissable concentration of tetra & perchloroethene 10 (gl-1 Cambridge Water Company (CWC) had been extracting groudwater from the Sawston area via boreholes. In the mid 1980s perchloroethen concebtrations in the ground water were found to be 70 - 170 (gl-1. Due to the new standards the extracted water could not be used for drinking water supply. The CWC boreholes were moved and a new plant buiolt at a cost of £1M. CWC sought an injuction and damages from ECL alleging they has caused the pollution from either leaking drums or accidental spillage.

Q. What fundamental question with respect to environmnetal damage did the case raise?
Q. Should there be liability in the past on the basis of present-day knowledge and standards?

The High Court dismissed the action against ECL on the ground that the harm caused was not reasonably foreseeable. CWC appealed to the Court of Appeal . Their appeal was upheld on the grounds that ECL had interfered with a natural right (the water company's ownership of the boreholes and water use rights) and that the liability was strict.

ECL appealed to the House of Lords. The House of Lords held that some degree of foresight of risk is required to be proven, even in circumstances of strict liability and in cases where past activities are the subject of present day litigation. It was held that at the time ECL could not have foreseen the harmthey were causing.

Q. What issues does this raise for past and present day activities that contaminate land and/or groundwaters?