Anglian Water fined £560,000 for 4Ml sewage spill

Anglian Water has been fined £563,609 with costs of £27,439 after an Environment Agency investigation found that a failure at one of the company’s treatment plants released millions of litres of sewage into a river killing invertebrates and fish.

The regulator’s investigation found failures by Anglian in planning, managing, and monitoring at its Doddinghurst Water Recycling Centre, near Brentwood, Essex. They led to more than 3.9 Ml of harmful sewage being discharged into Doddinghurst Brook unchecked for 2.5 days. This damaged the river’s ecosystem and killed a number of a protected species including the bullhead.

Anglian Water was ordered to pay the fine and costs of £27,439.21 and a victim surcharge of £170 at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court. The District Judge described Anglian Water’s record as ‘lamentable’.

Environment Agency chief executive, Sir James Bevan, said he welcomed the sentence.

The court heard how a fault in an aeration process at the Wyatts Green site in 2018 meant sewage discharged into the tributary of the River Wid. This was compounded by the lack of a £205 early alarm system which could have been fitted after an identical fault occurred earlier in the year.

The latest fault in the aeration process on 28 September led to sewage discharging into the river. The malfunction was not spotted until 1 October 2018 when a company employee saw the aerators were not working.

As a result, around 4km of the River Wid were subjected to high levels of ammonia for six days after the failure.