Yorkshire Water has been fined £1,600,750 for polluting a Bradford watercourse in a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.

The company appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court for sentence on Monday, 18 July, where it pleaded guilty to unauthorised sewage discharges into Bradford Beck, and breaches of its environmental permit. The court heard its George Street detention tank in Bradford was full for up to eight months during 2018, leading to 25 unauthorised sewage spills into Bradford Beck.

The city centre tank collects and stores a mixture of rainfall and sewage from the sewer network during times of heavy rainfall. Once storm conditions have passed the tank operates its pumps to return the mixture back into the sewers. If it’s a prolonged event and the tank fills to capacity, it’s designed to overflow into the watercourse. When operating correctly the tank should be empty in dry weather.

Over two days in August 2018, the Environment Agency received four reports of sewage pollution in Bradford Beck. An officer attended and an investigation, combined with additional information from the community, led to a request for further data from Yorkshire Water. The investigation revealed one or both of the two pumps that emptied the tank were at various times not working between August 2017 and September 2018. The Environment Agency concluded the tank was full between January and August 2018, with spikes in the data showing the tank spilled 25 times.

Yorkshire Water was aware the storm pumps were out of action and of the fact the tank was full. It failed to fix the pumps as soon as practical, to provide a stand-by pump, to maintain its pumps and to maintain the overflow. Information from the community suggested an impact on the wildlife, including invertebrates and fish in the immediate time after the August 2018 unauthorised discharge.

Yorkshire Water apologised and said it had since been working to “improve the health” of the affected beck. District Judge Richard Kitson found that Yorkshire Water was “reckless” in its offending due to the fact the firm was taking some steps to deal with the issue, but not with sufficient urgency.

Ben Hocking, environment manager for the EA, said: “Water companies are aware their activities have the potential to cause serious environmental impacts and they have a legal duty to avoid pollution.” The EA was “committed to holding water companies to account”, Mr Hocking added. “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously.”

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said the incidents “should not have occurred” and changes had since been made to make sure it would not happen again. He said: “We take our commitment to the environment seriously and apologise for the issues at Bradford Beck in 2018. “Our pollution performance has significantly improved since 2018, and we’re investing over £790m over the next few years to improve Yorkshire’s watercourses.” The firm had worked with the Friends of Bradford Beck to reduce pollution, he added.

The news release from the Environment Agency can be read here and also from the BBC here.