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Anglian Water Fined £1.2 Million For Pollution Incidents

Why is water efficiency important - H2O Building Services

 

Utility company Anglian Water has been hit with fines totalling more than £1.2 million for pollution incidents across the east of England that involved blockages and broken infrastructure.

 

Over a period of five months between May and September 2019, four incidents took place across Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, the result of system and maintenance failures including reporting delays, breakdowns in planning and faulty screening.

 

In one incident, a biological survey carried out after the fact revealed dead aquatic invertebrates for 1,500 metres. Loughborough Magistrates Court also heard how a buildup of unflushable items like sanitary pads and cotton buds had gone unchecked, which caused a blockage and saw settled sludge discharge into the treated sewage.

 

There had originally been a screen fitted at the site to prevent these blockages but this had been removed in 2018. Despite this, no increased or more vigorous cleaning was seen and no steps taken to reduce blockage risks caused by the removal of the screen.

 

A separate court case, this time at Cambridge Magistrates Court, saw Anglian Water fined £350,000 after a pumped sewer at Bourn Brook in Caldecott burst for the sixth time in just a few years. A site investigation in 2019 found ammonia and low oxygen levels in the water, which posed a potential health risk to local wildlife.

 

Although Anglian Water did take steps to prevent polluted water from spreading, these measures proved to be insufficient and, in all, four kilometres of the waterway were affected for at least five days.

 

Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: “Serious pollution is a serious crime and I welcome these sentences from the courts. The Environment Agency will pursue any water company that fails to uphold the law or protect nature, and will continue to press for the strongest possible penalties for those which do not.”

 

This comes after environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena announced that civil penalties will be increased from £250,000 to £250 million for those water firms found to be polluting the environment.

 

At the moment, if suppliers don’t operate within the law or their operations result in environmental harm, the Environment Agency can pursue both criminal and civil prosecutions. Even though fines in criminal cases are unlimited, such prosecutions can be lengthy and expensive, so civil sanctions are often pursued instead as they can be quicker.

 

In 2021, water companies around the country caused 62 serious pollution incidents, a rise on the 44 seen in 2020. The government now has plans in place to encourage suppliers to make infrastructure investments so as to minimise incidents of this kind and help protect freshwater resources now and well into the future.

 

Do you want to find out why water efficiency is important? Get in touch with the H2o Building Services team today.

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