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Northumbrian Water has been fined £240,000 for two counts of polluting a waterway in 2017 after prosecution by the Environment Agency.
The company pleaded guilty to the offences at Bishop Auckland in County Durham on two consecutive days in March 2017 when a brick blocked a combined sewer, causing it to overflow from a manhole and discharge into Coundon Burn – a stream that feeds the River Gaunless.
After being alerted to the initial incident by a member of the public, the company cleared a blockage, but when officers returned the following day to clear up, they found a second manhole further downstream was discharging sewage into the burn. They cut into the pipe and discovered a brick surrounded by rags.
An Environment Agency officer attended to investigate and discovered a plume of discoloured water entering the River Gaunless. Subsequent sampling found sewage had covered a 300-metre stretch of riverbed.
The brick came from a damaged manhole chamber, Northumbrian said, which was subsequently repaired. However, the EA’s investigation showed the company did not have a maintenance system in place for manholes on agricultural land.
Judge Robert Adams described the company as “negligent by having no preventative systems in place” but commended its steps taken to remedy the issue. Northumbrian was ordered to pay costs of £34,000.
Rachael Caldwell, environment manager for the EA in the north east, said: “Water companies are aware that their activities have the potential to cause serious environmental impacts and they have a legal duty to avoid pollution. The regulations are clear.”
She added that officers “worked tirelessly” to bring the case to court as part of the EA’s enforcement duties.
Earlier this month, the Environmental Audit Committee’s report into Water Quality in Rivers found “multiple potential points of failure in the regulatory arrangements for monitoring, governance and enforcement of water quality”.
It highlighted the urgent need for the EA to speed up enforcement and prosecution of polluters and called on government to adequately fund the body to ensure it can carry out its duties.
Northumbrian was fined £540,000 last year for another offence in 2017.
New legislation in the Environment Act requires water companies to publish data from event duration monitors from all combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
Ahead of the 2025 price review, stakeholders have called for investment in sewerage networks to be prioritised to allow water companies to improve their sewer networks and reduce reliance on CSOs.
New legislation in the Environment Act requires water companies to publish data from event duration monitors from all combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
Ahead of the 2025 price review, stakeholders have called for investment in sewerage networks to be prioritised to allow water companies to improve their sewer networks and reduce reliance on CSOs.
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