Yorkshire pays out £1m to reconcile sewage spill

Yorkshire Water has paid out £1m to charities in a record penalty under an enforcement decision after polluting a Harrogate watercourse.

The Environment Agency found that the water company had breached its environmental permit with an 2016 unauthorised sewage discharge from a combined sewer overflow, which polluted Hookstone Beck.

The company submitted an Enforcement Undertaking – a voluntary offer to make amends for an offence – to the Environment Agency in which it proposed a charitable donation totalling £1m – the largest ever accepted by the agency.

Yorkshire Water has paid £500,000 to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and £500,000 to Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust. And it has completed a £1.85m sewer network upgrade in the area as part of the enforcement terms.

The Hookstone Road combined sewer overflow has an environmental permit that allows a discharge into the beck when the storm sewage facility is full due to rainfall or snow melt. On 31 August 2016 the Environment Agency received a report of pollution in Hookstone Beck and traced it to the overflow at Hookstone Road, which had blocked.

Faulty telemetry equipment failed to alert Yorkshire Water to the spill which the agency found had killed some 1,500 fish and polluted the water for 2.5km downstream. Further blockages and discharges were found to have taken place in the following months.

The agency said the £1million civil sanction will be invested into the local area to enhance the environment for people and wildlife.

The Environment Agency investigation also led to significant improvements to the sewer network in this area to prevent repeat incidents and ensure future compliance with environmental requirements.

Water minister, Robbie Moore, said “Those that pollute the environment will soon face unlimited penalties under new legislation being brought forward by the government. The current limit of variable monetary penalties that the Environment Agency can impose directly on operators will be lifted, following a government consultation which received widespread public support.”