‘Charitable donation’ to resolve sewage pollution

Yorkshire Water has offered a charity donation to resolve an investigation into a sewage pollution event.

The Environment Agency has secured £200,000 donation through an Enforcement Undertaking following a pollution incident near Doncaster.

Yorkshire Water Services Ltd have paid £200,000 to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as part of an Enforcement Undertaking (EU). The EU was offered to the Environment Agency after the company admitted causing sewage to enter the Pissy Beds Drain, a tributary that eventually leads into the River Trent in September 2015.

EUs are a restorative enforcement sanction. Polluters can make an offer to the Environment Agency to pay for or carry out environmental improvements as an alternative to any other enforcement action. The Environment Agency then carefully considers whether the remedial efforts offered by the polluter are acceptable, taking into consideration all the circumstances surrounding the commission of the offence.