A record £1 million donation has been paid by Yorkshire Water, following a pollution incident at a watercourse in Harrogate.
On 31 August 2016, the Environment Agency (EA) received reports of pollution in Hookstone Beck in the Harrogate Area. Officers investigated and found that the pollution was due to a blocked combined sewer overflow on Hookstone Road, which was under the responsibility of Yorkshire Water to manage.
Yorkshire Water have an environmental permit which allows them to discharge into Hookstone Beck when the storm sewage is full because of rainfall or snow melt. However the investigation found that the overflow was in fact blocked and the telemetry equipment on the overflow which should alert Yorkshire Water to the issue was faulty.
Due to this failure water quality in the Beck was affected for up to 2.5km downstream and almost 1500 fish died as a result. In the months that followed further blockages and discharges were also found to have taken place in the area.
The EA conducted a detailed investigation following this and found that Yorkshire Water had breached their environmental permit.
Yorkshire Water submitted an enforcement undertaking to the EA proposing a £1 million charitable donation. These civil sanctions are a method for a company to help rectify the damage caused by their non-compliance, by donating to a relevant charity and avoiding actual prosecution.
The EA accepted this offer from Yorkshire Water - which is the largest ever amount for a civil sanction donation accepted by the EA.
£500,000 was paid to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust who will spend the funds on their wetland reserves for new and improved homes for wildlife.
A further £500,000 was paid to Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust who will develop a programme of improvements along the River Nidd.
As well as this Yorkshire Water have invested £1.85 million into sewer network upgrades in the area as part of their enforcement terms, with the aim of preventing any future pollution incidents.
Environment Agency Area Environment Manager in Yorkshire, Claire Barrow, commented: "We always consider enforcement options on a case by case basis and Enforcement Undertakings allow companies to put right what went wrong and contribute to environmental improvements and outcomes."
"This significant £1 million civil sanction will be invested back 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."
