Severn Trent Water fined £1.5m for illegal sewage discharges

Nearly 360,000 litres of sewage were discharged into one brook

Severn Trent Water has been fined £1.5 million for sewage discharges from four sewage treatment works in Worcestershire.

The incidents of discharging sewage into a number of watersources in Worcestershire took place between February and August 2018.

The company was prosecuted for failing to respond to alarms warning of a blockage and adequately manage sewage sludge.

The Environment Agency (EA) said a blockage at the company’s treatment works at Blackminster, near Eversham resulted in approximately 360,000 litres of sewage flowing into a brook.

The court heard that similar incidents happened in other treatment works in Worcestershire as well.

David Throup, Environment Manager for the West Midlands Area of the EA, said: “Incidents like this are preventable and are completely unacceptable, particularly at a time when the need to protect the water environment for wildlife and people has never been greater and when public consciousness on environmental matters is so high.”

A Severn Trent spokesperson told ELN: “We take our role in protecting and caring for our region’s rivers extremely seriously, which is why we have consistently been recognised as a leading UK water company and awarded the very highest four-star status by the EA.

“These were historic issues that occurred in 2018 and we self-reported them to the EA at the time; we have been open and transparent with them throughout the process. We accept and take seriously the court’s findings; we have learned the lessons from the incidents to ensure that we continue to work to the highest environmental standards.”

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