EA Chair Emma Howard Boyd calls for courts to make fines for water pollution proportionate to companies’ turnover. The Chair of the Environment Agency has called for courts to make fines for water pollution incidents proportionate to the companies’ turnover, saying that the water companies are responsible for “at least one serious pollution incident every week.”  Emma Howard Boyd was commenting on publication by Ofwat of its agenda to improve water companies’ corporate behaviours in order to rebuild public trust in the water sector.

Pollution incident costs Severn Trent Water £418k in court   Derby Crown Court, sitting in Nottingham, has imposed a significant fine this week on Severn Trent Water following a serious pollution incident which resulted in an estimated 30,000 dead fish and 5km of damaged ecology along the River Amber.

In a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency, the water company was fined £350,000, ordered to pay Environment Agency costs of £68,003, as well as a victim surcharge of £120.

In November 2015, the Environment Agency received reports of several hundred dead fish in the River Amber in Derbyshire and, following a search of the area, and discussions with Severn Trent Water employees, the source of the pollution was found to be a release of sodium hydroxide from the Ogston Water Treatment works, operated by Severn Trent Water, into the river.

Severn Trent Water identified that a leak within a chamber at the treatment works had led to the contents becoming contaminated with sodium hydroxide, which was then washed through the road gully into the River Amber via an outfall pipe.  The hazardous chemical leak had a significant negative impact on the fish and invertebrate populations within the River Amber. The Environment Agency has been monitoring the natural recovery of the river ecology over the last two years. Monitoring has shown that whilst there have been some improvements, something resembling a full recovery is not expected until the summer of this year.  Click here to read more BBC

Anglian Water pays £50,000 to environmental charity after water pollution incident

The Environment Agency has accepted an offer from Anglian Water to donate £50,000 to an environmental charity following a water pollution incident.