A water company has been fined £330,000 for killing more than 2,000 fish in an illegal sewage spill which caused ammonia concentrations in a river to reach 32 times the permitted level.
An investigation found Southern Water failed to respond quickly to an alarm that untreated sewage was pouring into a beauty spot where protected fish live.
A pump failure caused sewage to be discharged into a 1.5-mile stretch of the Shawfords Lake stream, which feeds into the River Hamble in Hampshire.
Ammonia in the water reached fatal levels, causing the deaths of 1,871 bullhead fish and five Brook lampreys, both protected species.
A court heard more than 100 brown trout and some stickleback were also killed during the incident in July 2019, since when the brown trout population has “failed to recover”.
Advertisement
YMCA Fairthorne Manor, a nearby activity centre, had to stop water-based activities for ten days and cancelled more than a thousand sessions.
The Environment Agency (EA) launched an investigated into Southern Water’s Little Bull pumping station. After admitting one breach of environmental permitting regulations, regarding the pollution and operation of the station, Southern Water was fined £330,000 at Southampton magistrates’ court.
Rebecca Vanstone, for the prosecution, said: “At approximately 11:48am on July 21, 2019, a member of the public reported to the Environment Agency there was a burst sewer and unfiltered sewage was entering the stream. The sewage had become blocked from a manhole and travelled across the ground, entering the stream.
“The defendant company was notified at the same time as the Environment Agency. Upon receiving that call, it says it dispatched a crew and told the agency. But Southern Water should have been notified much earlier that there had been an issue with the pump.”
The court heard that an alarm had sounded at 7.18am in the Southern Water control room, notifying the company of the pumping station issue, yet nothing was done about it.
Advertisement
Vanstone said: “It went unanswered and it was almost five hours after that action was then taken. Southern Water simply say they don’t know why.”
The court heard that an officer attended the site later that afternoon, two hours after the report was made, where a “clear route” of the discharge running from the manhole to the stream was found. An area of “discoloured ground” was discovered, as well as another manhole five metres from the water, with more evidence of water flowing from it.
Vanstone said: “The officer drove downstream, where water was cloudy, there was an odour and multiple dead fish were found. One hundred and forty metres downstream, a further 54 dead fish and no live fish were observed.”
An investigation by the EA found the sewage was running for a minimum of five hours and may have been for as long as 19 hours.
Vanstone said Southern Water blamed the discharge on a pump setting failure caused by a third-party contractor. She said there was a “long-lasting effect” on animal health, with a “total fish kill of over 2,000 fish”.
Advertisement
Vanstone said: “An offence of this nature means a loss of public confidence. The public has an expectation [that] water companies are working in accordance with that regime.” She said Southern Water’s previous convictions “painted a picture of a poor compliance record”.
Dominic Kay KC, representing Southern Water, said: “Very, very significant changes to this company have been made since this incident. The company wishes to express its genuine remorse at the outset.
“This was something of a freak incident. An investigation from Southern Water found the specialist subcontractor had reset the replacement pump’s overload too low. This isn’t a case where Southern Water is trying to blame its third-party contractors, but at the same time it is a failure of a third-party contractor which is the root cause of a problem.”
He admitted the pump issue was “compounded” by a failure to respond to the alarm in Southern Water’s control room. Kay relayed a message from Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water, who said he was “profoundly sorry” for the offence and was “dedicated to turning things around”.
Robbie Moore, the rural affairs minister, said: “Southern Water have rightly been punished today for damage to our natural environment and it’s just the latest example of how polluters are being held to account. Today’s fine will be paid into our Water Restoration Fund, which will support further work we are already doing to clean up our waterways.”
Thames Water under pressure
Advertisement
Thames Water, the UK’s largest water monopoly, is trying to avoid being taken over under the government’s special administration regime by lobbying ministers and Ofwat, the industry regulator, to let it increase bills, pay dividends and face lower fines, according to the Financial Times. Last week the government passed updated water insolvency legislation, seen by industry experts as an indication that a collapse could be imminent. The company supplies water and sewage services to about 25 per cent of England’s population.
