{"id":102106,"date":"2021-11-22T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=102106"},"modified":"2021-11-22T12:46:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:46:18","slug":"thames-water-sewage-pollution-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/thames-water-sewage-pollution-fine\/102106\/","title":{"rendered":"Thames Water Utilities issued \u00a34m raw sewage pollution fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thames Water has been issued a \u00a34m pollution fine for discharging an estimated half a million litres of raw sewage into the Seacourt and Hinksey streams in Oxford in 2016<\/h2>\n

The water company has also been ordered to pay the prosecution costs of \u00a390,713.<\/p>\n

A \u2018foreseeable and avoidable\u2019 incident<\/h3>\n

The leak lasted approximately 30 hours and flowed for at least 3.5km along the streams, through a pub garden, and past community allotments.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency<\/a> believes it was responsible for the deaths of up to 3,000 fish, including perch, chub, roach, gudgeon, and bullheads, some of them up to nine years old.<\/p>\n

The court heard how the company had failed to carry out essential maintenance to prevent blockages in a sewer<\/a> that was already vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Thames Water had no system in place to identify blockages or pollution occurring and instead relied on observations by members of the public.<\/p>\n

\u2018A disgraceful state of affairs\u2019<\/h3>\n

Judge Francis Sheridan said that this was \u201cyet another very serious breach of legislation in an area of outstanding natural beauty\u201d and that the waterfall of raw sewage was a \u201cdisgraceful state of affairs.\u201d Adding that the failings, in this case, were \u201cfrankly embarrassing\u201d and that \u201cthis cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident was reported to the Environment Agency by canoeists who found themselves paddling in sewage amongst dead fish.<\/p>\n

Environment Agency officers attended the scene and successfully traced the pollution to its source.<\/p>\n

\u2018Company failed to maintain this high-risk sewer for 16 years\u2019<\/h3>\n

Robert Davis, an attending Environment Agency senior officer, said: “It was quite horrific. Sewage pollution was bank to bank and there was a foul stench of raw sewage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we traced the source we found a waterfall of raw sewage discharging via a pipe into the streams. Amongst the dead fish, Fisheries officers observed hundreds more on the surface, suffering and gasping for oxygen.<\/p>\n

The court also heard that during a major sewer renewal project in 2012, Thames Water opted for a solution that saved them many millions and which critically relied upon a six-monthly cleaning of the sewer to prevent the known risk of blockages.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the company failed to comply with the permit in not having a documented programme covering the maintenance of the downstream sewer, despite having a manual which clearly outlined the requirement for maintenance and the risk of blockage and pollution if it was not carried out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough a painstaking criminal investigation, it transpired that the water company had failed to adequately maintain this high-risk section of sewer for at least 16 years.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency had previously issued Thames Water with two formal warnings following earlier pollution from the same discharge point due to an earlier blockage in February and March 2012.<\/p>\n

The court was told how the water company failed to disclose highly relevant documents, including a maintenance manual, until the 11th hour and only after members of the public had brought one of them to the attention of the Environment Agency.<\/p>\n

\u2018The need to protect the environment has never been greater\u2019<\/h3>\n

Davis added: \u201cThis fine sends out a clear warning to the boards of all water companies \u2013 invest heavily in maintaining your sewers and don\u2019t drop the ball when it comes to carrying out that maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncidents like this are preventable and are completely unacceptable, particularly at a time when the need to protect the water environment for wildlife and people has never been greater and when public consciousness on environmental matters is so high.\u201d<\/p>\n

This latest conviction brings the total amount of fines levied against Thames Water<\/a> since 2017 to \u00a332.4 million for 11 cases of water pollution across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thames Water has been issued a \u00a34m pollution fine for discharging an estimated half a million litres of raw sewage into the Seacourt and Hinksey streams in Oxford in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[279,432,753,802],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-102106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-safety-news","7":"tag-environment","8":"tag-health-safety","9":"tag-safety","10":"tag-water-management"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThames Water Utilities issued \u00a34m raw sewage pollution fine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thames Water 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