Severn Trent pleads guilty to supplying water ‘unfit for human consumption’

Severn Trent has been fined £66,000 after pleading guilty to 11 counts of supplying water unfit for human consumption at Coventry Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The case was brought against the water company by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which has accused Severn Trent of putting customers’ health at risk.

It was fined £6,000 on each of 11 counts under Section 70 of the Water Industry Act 1991, totalling £66,000 and paid £25,950 towards prosecution costs as well as a £120 victim surcharge.

Severn Trent Water first received reports of discoloured water with unusual tastes and odours coming from customers’ taps in the village of Broadway, Worcestershire in November 2012.

Despite initially assuring customers the water was safe to drink, subsequent company investigations found E. coli and Crypt sporidium bovis in the water leaving a reservoir and at customer properties.

Two days later Severn Trent advised customers not to drink the water without boiling it first, and provided bottled supplies. The advice was lifted and supplies were restored to normal on December 3 2012.

Pipework, wrongly thought to be disconnected from the live supply system had fractured and had been permitting surface water runoff from the surrounding area, including slurry from a nearby cattle holding area to enter the supply.

Professor Jeni Colbourne, chief inspector of the DWI, said: “The Inspectorate brought this case because the company didn’t listen to consumers and put their health at risk as a consequence of systemic failings in its approach to safeguarding tap water quality.”

A Severn Trent spokesperson said the company would “like to say sorry once again to those customers who were affected and for the inconvenience caused”.