POLLUTION charges against Lothian Regional Council have been dropped

at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. The council was accused of allowing sewage

effluent to be discharged into the river Almond from Newbridge Sewage

Works on October 7, 1993. The discharge was alleged to be without the

permission of the Forth River Purification Board and contrary to the

Control of Pollution Act. Lothian's Department of Water and Drainage,

based in Buckstone Terrace, Edinburgh, denied the charge. The case was

due to go to trial on September 29, but, at an intermediate hearing

yesterday, depute-fiscal Gillian More said that the case was being

deserted.