South West Water (SWW) has been fined £2.1m for a series of environmental offences that took place over four years and resulted in environmental damage and pollution of rivers and a lake across Devon and Cornwall. This is the largest fine handed for pollution offences in the Devon and Cornwall area.
The charges brought against SWW by the Environment Agency relate to various pollution incidents dating back to 2016, which amounted to 13 counts of unauthorised releases and breaches of environmental permits over a period of four years, which SWW admitted.
The investigation carried out by the Environment Agency shown that there were numerous common deficiencies in the implementation of SWW's management systems which have contributed to each of these offences. Inaccurate and inadequate operational procedures led to harmful chemicals escaping from SWW sites on more than one occasion which resulted in significant environmental damage, including sites at Kilmington on the River Axe and in Crediton on the River Creedy. Following the spill at Kilmington, thousands of fish died in the River Axe, including some protected species.
Additionally, SWW failed to operate its assets and processes in an effective manner which caused raw sewage pumped into the River Fowey for more than 12 hours despite control room alarms indicating there was an issue with the works in 2016. Also, not responding adequately to alarms the same year resulted in an illegal discharge from the Watergate Bay sewage pumping station. The discharge lasted for more than 35 hours and a sample taken from a stream at the beach showed E. coli levels to be 2,000 times higher than the level that would be classified as poor.
Delivering her sentence, District Judge Matson said that "incidents of pollution will no longer be tolerated by these courts" and fined the company £2,1m and ordered to pay £280,000 costs and £170 victim surcharge.
Chair of the Environment Agency, Alan Lovell, said: "We welcome this sentence. Serious pollution is a serious crime – and we have been clear that the polluter must pay.
"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."
Water Minister, Rebecca Pow said: "Water companies should not be letting this happen and those that do will be punished using the full force of the law. This fine reflects the severity of the pollution that occurred across Devon and Cornwall, causing damage to both wildlife and protected sites.
"It will rightly be paid solely from the company's operating profits and not passed on to customer bills.
"As set out in our recent Plan for Water, fines handed out to water companies that pollute our rivers and seas will be re-invested into a new Water Restoration Fund, which will deliver on-the-ground improvements to our natural environment and water quality."
