Northumbrian Water Ltd fined £30,000 over pollution incidents
24 Apr 2014 02:44 PM
Company in court over
two separate offences
Northumbrian Water Ltd has been
fined a total of £30,000 for two sewage pollution incidents that happened
last year.
In two separate cases that were
both heard before Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on 22 April, the water
company admitted and was sentenced for two offences of discharging polluted
matter into watercourses.
Chris Bunting, prosecuting for
the Environment Agency, told the court that the first pollution incident
affected Kyo Burn, the source of the River Team, situated to the south west of
Stanley, in June.
The watercourse was running an
unusual grey colour and smelt of blocked drains, and an ecological survey found
sewage fungus and dead invertebrates along a 1.8 kilometre stretch of the
watercourse.
Investigating officers found
that the burn had been affected by sewage discharge from a storm overflow on
the Tanfield Trunk Sewer.
In normal circumstances, the
storm overflow only allows a discharge in times of heavy rain, to alleviate
flood risk. But the overflow had operated incorrectly because of a blockage,
and the company had not been aware because its monitoring equipment on the
sewer was not working correctly.
The second pollution incident
occurred in August in Bowburn Beck, which flows into the River Wear south of
Durham City.
This watercourse had been
affected with sewage when a blockage in a sewer had caused a manhole cover to
lift, allowing sewage to flow out, across a farmland and into the
beck.
Northumbrian Water was informed
about the problem, but failed to investigate the issue for four days. It
claimed that it had difficulty accessing the site because of the presence of
dogs on the farm, although alternative access routes could have been
considered.
The firm eventually found that
the blockage had been caused by rags, oil, fat and grease.
Water samples and an ecological
survey showed that a one-kilometre stretch of Bowburn Beck had been
significantly affected. There were high numbers of dead and dying
invertebrates, with a small number of dead fish. There was also a thick sewage
fungus present.
Northumbrian Water Ltd admitted
one offence for each of the pollution incidents. For the Kyo Burn offence, the
company was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £3,996.04 costs and a
£120 victim surcharge. For the Bowburn Beck offence, the firm was fined
£16,000 and ordered to pay £4,772.52 costs.
Graham Siddle, Environment
Management Team Leader at the Environment Agency, said:
In both of these incidents, the
sewage had a detrimental effect on the natural environment. That’s why it
is vital that water companies and other industries ensure they work within the
rules and meet all conditions of their environmental permits.
Where possible, the Environment
Agency works with companies to help them meet their environmental obligations,
but where significant breaches are seen, enforcement action will be
taken.