Northumbrian Water has been fined £240,000 and ordered to pay costs of more than £34,000 after pleading guilty to two offences of river pollution in County Durham.
Newcastle Crown Court heard sewage poured out of a manhole for two consecutive days in March 2017 from Coundon Burn at Auckland Park, polluting part of the River Gaunless.
After an investigation, the Environment Agency found that around 300 metres of the riverbed were covered in sewage material.
Rachael Caldwell, Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in the North East, said: “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously.
“Water companies are aware that their activities have the potential to cause serious environmental impacts and they have a legal duty to avoid pollution. The regulations are clear.”
A spokesperson for Northumbrian Water told ELN: “We accept the fine handed down in relation to this incident, which happened back in 2017 as a result of damage caused by a third party.
“While limited and very short-lived, there was an impact upon the Coundon Burn from this incident that we agree should not have happened.”
The company added the blockage was the direct result of damage caused to a manhole by agricultural machinery, causing the incident.
It continued: “One of many positive steps we have since taken towards reducing pollutions from our wastewater network has been to implement a process to regularly inspect vulnerable manholes, particularly where they are near to water sources.
“We identified 6,000 manholes in agricultural settings and immediately after this event, we began undertaking programmes of work to reduce any risks of damage to our assets by third parties. This included placing large marker posts where appropriate to identify them, laising with land owners and farming organisations.”
The spokesperson said that the company’s performance in relation to pollution over the last three years had been “industry leading” and the Environment Agency gave them a four star rating in its most recent Environmental Performance Assessment.
