Southern Water fined £2.4m for Kent pollution
22 Sep 2026 12:10 PM
Incidents killed fish and eels, and closed beaches for days.
Southern Water has been fined £2.4m after multiple incidents of sewage pollution. It’s the Environment Agency’s second successful prosecution of the company this year, with other cases going through court.
Weeks after they were given a £7.1m penalty for pollution that closed several beaches in Thanet for days, the company has been back in court to face more charges, this time for harming the environment around Faversham and Whitstable between 2019 and 2021.
Sitting at Bromley magistrates’ court, district judge Stephen Leake heard Southern Water was charged with releasing untreated sewage, sewage debris, diesel and waste matter into the sea and a brook across a 2-year period. This included two incidents happening at the same time in different locations.
In July 2019, people saw and smelled what turned out to be diesel in Swalecliffe Brook in Whitstable. Environment Agency staff were sent to the scene, laying absorbent booms to limit pollution from Southern Water’s local wastewater treatment plant.
The diesel got into the brook and then the sea after a generator leaked. It was the summer holiday season, but the public were warned to keep themselves and their pets out of the water.
Lindsay Faulkner, environment manager for the Environment Agency in Kent, said:
We have continued to press Southern Water to improve performance through 700 inspections of their sites in the past year, detailing 400 improvements they needed to take. We will not hesitate to prosecute for wrongdoing like here.
The pollution and the disruption to local businesses, and people wanting to enjoy days out, could have been avoided if Southern Water managed operations better. They didn’t have the checks in place to deal with problems.
Water companies must learn to identify and fix problems before the environment pays the price. We will continue to hold Southern Water to account.
Across 3 days in March 2020, Southern Water released untreated sewage into Faversham Creek from another treatment station after pumps stopped working. Southern Water also failed to report the initial circumstances of the incident to the Environment Agency, limiting what investigators could find out.
On the same day, Swalecliffe Brook in Whitstable was hit again, this time with sewage carried into the sea. Environment Agency officers again went out. They found sewage and debris flowing under the main gates of the treatment plant in Brook Road, over a grass verge and into the water.
Then in October 2020, an almost identical incident.
At a hearing in April this year, Medway magistrates’ court heard further pollution incidents happened in Whitstable in August 2021, discharging into the sea directly or via Swalecliffe Brook. The incidents occurred only weeks after the company was fined a record £90m for thousands of illegal sewage discharges off the south coast.
The beleaguered brook had untreated sewage pouring into it from Brook Road wastewater pumping station where investigators found around 70 dead fish, including eels. Later the same month, there was more pollution, this time from Diamond Road combined sewer overflow.
Canterbury City Council put signs up at beaches in Tankerton and Herne Bay, warning against swimming for nearly a week afterwards. The discharge affected coastal waters near Whitstable Harbour, a designated shellfishery.
In addition to the fine of £2,416.666.67, district judge Leake ordered Southern Water to pay £69,894.04 in costs, and a victim surcharge of £190.
Southern Water pleaded guilty in April to all five charges under regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. Southern Water pleaded guilty at Medway magistrates’ court on 7 April. A further pollution incident at Faversham in December 2019 was taken into account at sentencing.
Background:
- In July, the Environment Agency announced legal proceedings against Southern Water and seven ex-staff over alleged breaches of environmental permits and charges of conspiracy to defraud.
- Southern Water will appear in court in December in relation to unrelated pollution incidents at Herne Bay, where 49 homes and businesses were flooded with sewage, and near Canterbury, in Kent, and near Andover, in Hampshire.
- The Environment Agency has concluded more than 70 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies since 2015, securing fines of more than £150m.
- Water companies cannot raise prices to offset fines. Instead, fines should reduce profits, dividends, and executive bonuses, creating internal pressure for cultural and operational change.
Contact us:
Journalist only: 0800 141 2743 or communications_se@environment-agency.gov.uk.