Severn Trent fined for sewage leak
29 Sep 2015
Severn Trent Water has been fined £480,000 after a series of incidents that caused raw sewage to leak into a farmer’s field and a pond in a private fishery.
Proceedings against the company were brought by the Environment Agency following the incidents which occurred near Rotherham in February and March last year.
The agency said the offences were aggravated by the fact that there had been previous warnings issued for two earlier incidents.
This is one of the largest fines ever to be imposed on a water company, and I hope it sends a strong message
Environment Agency officer
The pipe that burst was a ‘rising main’ that connects the pumping station to pump sewage onto its treatment works. It ruptured at the same point in each of the incidents, the Environment Agency said, directly contributing to fish deaths.
In passing sentence, the Judge said that both offences were committed ”negligently” and that the harm to the environment was localised, and therefore minor, albeit significant to those affected by the incident.
“We were particularly concerned that, after two formal warnings from the Environment Agency about sewage leaking into fields and watercourses, the third rupture was undetected by Severn Trent Water and there was then yet another incident in the same location,” an Environment Agency officer said.
“This is one of the largest fines ever to be imposed on a water company, and I hope it sends a strong message that it is far more cost effective to avoid these incidents, as we will continue to take companies and individuals to task where they ignore their responsibilities.”
A number of large fines have been handed out to water utilities found to have polluted waterways in recent times. United Utilities was fined £750,000 in March this year, and Southern Water was fined £500,000 in November last year.
Severn Trent has apologised for the impact of the burst pipe, which it has since replaced, and said it would invest £21million over the next five years to replace its ageing rising mains to prevent them from bursting.
On top of the £480,000 fine, the company has also been ordered to pay Environment Agency Costs of £13,675.
