Anglian Water receives six figure fine after sewage releases killed 5,000 fish
Anglian Water has been fined after a significant release of sewage in 2016.
In June 2016, Environment Agency officers carried out an investigation at Shenfield and Hutton Water Recycling Centre, a sewage treatment works operated by Anglian Water after an incident occurred. The Environment Agency found that all three pumps in one of the pump stations at the site had failed following a fire. As a result, untreated sewage was being released via an emergency overflow.
Environment Agency officers followed the sewage releases into the River Wid. Tests carried out found high levels of ammonia among the cloudy, polluted water. A further investigation a few days found dead fish and invertebrates at many different sites along the river.
Further investigations identified that the bearings on one of the pumps had failed but this continued to operate. Although the cause of the fire was unknown, it was accepted that heat built up caused the fire, which caused damage stopping all three pumps from working. This left no way for the sewage to be pumped.
The pumps being used by Anglian Water were almost 40 years old. The bearings on another pump had failed in 2013. As a result, Anglian Water sought funding to replace bearings on the other two pumps. However, only two of the three pumps were refurbished and bearings on the pump that failed in June 2016 had not been overhauled.
Repairs were carried out to the equipment following the incident.
Breach
Anglian Water pleaded guilty breaching Regulation 12(1)(b) and Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010:
- Regulation 12(1)(b) states that a person must not, except under and to the extent authorised by an environmental permit, cause or knowingly permit a water discharge activity or groundwater activity.
- Regulation 38(1)(a) makes it an offence for a person to contravene Regulation 12(1).
Company directors plead guilty to illegal landfill operations
A former company boss from Hertfordshire has been fined and another awaits sentencing after vast amounts of illegal waste were dumped at a quarry.
The Anstey Quarry Company Ltd leased the quarry in Buntingford and had a permit from the Environment Agency to treat and dispose of up to 10,000 tonnes of clean soil waste. However, waste piled up was said to be 30 times that figure and contained small fragments of contaminants including plastic, wood, metal and packaging, as well as soil.
By undertaking these operations contrary to its permit, the company stood to save money in how much landfill tax it paid, based on the type and quantity of waste held.
Investigators first visited the site in February 2015 and told the directors that the huge quantities on site increased the risk of pollution when it decomposed. A month was given to dispose of this material legally in landfill. A mound of the prohibited waste reached 20 metres into the sky. Soil was used to cover some of the offending remains to avoid detection.
When officers reattended the site a few weeks later, the problem had got worse.
By July 2015, the directors had ignored an enforcement notice from the Environment Agency to stop filling the landfill illegally.
The Officers’ attention was then drawn to landscaping work undertaken by the directors’ company at Nuthampstead shooting ground, a few miles north-east of the quarry. More plastic, wood and metal had been taken to the venue in sizeable quantities to build an embankment or bund that was 10 metres high when investigators inspected it.
Breaches
The directors pleaded guilty to five counts of breaching Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010:
- Regulation 38(2) makes it an offence to fail to comply with or to contravene an environmental permit condition.
Penalties
One of the directors was fined £1,450 with £8,000 in costs and a victim surcharge of £120.
The other director will be sentenced following a separate trial in March 2023, when he is due to face new charges of dumping waste illegally at a quarry near Stevenage.
Stop Notice issued to Norfolk landowner regarding waste operations
The Environment Agency has issued a Stop Notice to a landowner, requiring them to halt the unauthorised deposit and burning of waste. This follows a major fire in May 2022.
A Stop Notice is issued to prohibit a particular activity where the Environment Agency believes there is a significant risk to human health or the environment.
The deposit and burning of waste is now prohibited at the farm near Kings Lynn. If the landowner fails to comply with the notice they can then be taken to court and prosecuted, as breaching the notice is a criminal offence. The notice will remain in place until adequate action is taken to mitigate the risk and the site has been brought into compliance.
Investigations into alleged waste activities at the site are continuing.
Related Legislation
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