26 Feb 2026
Image description: A dead fish lies on its side on the rocky bed of a river. Image by Oguzhan Aydin from Pixabay. Yorkshire Water has been fined more than £700,000 for repeatedly releasing sewage into a country park stream in Derbyshire, the Environment Agency (EA) said. Yorkshire Water was issued with the penalty after pleading guilty to three offences of sewage pollution in Pools Brook country park […]
29 May 2025
Photo description: Tower Bridge straddling the Thames. Image by Albrecht Fietz / Pixabay Thames Water has been fined a total of £122.7m for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts, as Ofwat finalised both the penalty and enforcement order which have been imposed on the company. A £104.5m penalty has been issued for […]
11 Dec 2024
Following a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency, Anglian Water has been fined £300,000 for illegally discharging sewage into a watercourse that feeds into the Broads Special Area of Conservation in Norfolk. On 5 December 2024, Anglian Water Services Limited was sentenced at Basildon Magistrates Court to pay a fine of £300,000, alongside £21,896.56 in […]
21 Feb 2024
Severn Trent has been fined more than £2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans “woefully inadequate”. Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020. District judge Kevin Grego ruled […]
08 Jun 2022
From the Environment Agency Pollution from a water pumping station caused the death of over 5,000 fish in an Essex river. On 6 June 2016, Environment Agency officers were called to Shenfield and Hutton Water Recycling Centre, a sewage treatment works operated by Anglian Water, following an incident. It was found that all 3 pumps […]
14 Dec 2021
Severn Trent Water fined £1.5 million for sewage discharges Environment Agency successfully prosecutes Severn Trent Water for sewage discharges. Severn Trent Water fined £1.5 million for illegal sewage discharges Approx 360,000 litres of sewage discharged into one brook Severn Trent Water Limited has been fined £1.5 million for sewage discharges from 4 sewage treatment works […]
19 Dec 2019
Using the Enforcement Undertaking route, see the Severn example below, Water Companies in particular are providing funds for a wide variety of restoration projects carried out by NGOs as a result of their pollution. Enforcement undertakings: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agencys-use-of-civil-sanctions/enforcement-undertakings-accepted-by-the-environment-agency–2 Severn Trent Water has paid more than £220,000 to a charity after sewage pollution caused the death of […]
15 Oct 2019
Ofwat ‘In its final decision published today, Ofwat has confirmed that Southern Water will pay £126m in penalties and rebates to existing and former wastewater customers. This package of penalties and rebates is the biggest Ofwat has ever imposed reflecting the serious failures in the operation of Southern Water’s sewage treatment sites, and the deliberate […]
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