Anglian Water fined £150,000 for 2018 sewage spill into River Til
The Environment Agency has fined Anglian Water £150,000 plus costs after, in 2018, sewage was discharged into the River Til in Bedfordshire from the company’s Yielden Water Recycling Centre.
The incident arose when contractors working for the water company used a tanker jetter to unblock a sewer after sewage gathered in a field in Yielden, Bedfordshire. The increase in flow overwhelmed the small, rural treatment plant resulting in sewage discharging into the river. The spill affected 660 metres of the River Til creating high ammonia levels and depressed dissolved oxygen but there was no evidence of any dead fish or invertebrates.
The agency said that Anglian Water reported the pollution to it and took action to clean it up. Andthe water firm took other measures were taken to prevent a similar incident happening in the future.
The Environment Agency concluded that there was no adequate written procedure setting out how to assess specific environmental risks and how to overcome them to prevent pollution from small sites like Yielden. The Environment Agency imposed a Variable Monetary Penalty (VMP) on Anglian Water Services of £150,000 and costs to the agency of £4,428.33. This was the first time a water company in England has paid a VMP in relation to a pollution incident.
Senior environment officer at the Environment Agency, Jeremy Hay, said: “We are pleased with the success of this type of civil sanction, which we hope will change behaviour. It’s vital that future civil sanctions are not only proportionate but also an effective deterrent to all who pollute our rivers and waters.
The government has recently completed a consultation on strengthening the abilities of the Environment Agency to issue monetary penalties for environmental offences and to raise the cap for such penalties. This will involve increasing the overall cap for variable monetary penalties from its current £250,000 limit and introducing powers to issue variable monetary penalties for offences.
The Environment Agency said it plans to run its own consultation to look in more detail at the details of the amended penalties.
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