An investigation by the country’s Environment Agency found Anglian Water responsible for the sewage discharged into the Doddinghurst Brook, a tributary of the River Wid. The discharge ran unchecked for two and a half days, poisoning the ecosystem and killing a number of a protected species.
The toxic waste further contaminated a 4 kilometer length of the River Wid, which suffered from heightened ammonia levels for a week following the incident.
A fault in the treatment plant’s aeration process was deemed the cause of the incidents. The plant did not have an early warning alarm system, which would have alerted staff to the malfunction.
A similar failure earlier in the year gave plant officials the opportunity to install the necessary software, which costs £205 (US$251), but they neglected to do so, the Environment Agency said in their assessment.
"The public demand tough action when it comes to water quality and we are delivering. Anyone caught breaching environmental laws faces enforcement action, up to and including prosecution,” said Environment Officer Gavin Senior.
The court ordered Anglian Water to pay a fine of £536,000 ($656,849), plus additional minor costs.
District Judge Sam Goozee described Anglian Water’s record as ‘lamentable’.
While Anglian Water previously noted that it is not performing up to standards in some areas, “protecting, restoring and improving our region’s environment is at the heart of our business, and we take this responsibility incredibly seriously,” a spokesperson told OCCRP in October.
The East of England water company has found itself in hot water more than once recently. In October, it was fined almost a million pounds for its inability to prevent a series of sewage spills in 2019, which resulted in the deaths of marine life as far as 1,500 meters from the contamination site.
One of the overflow sites had had its filter systems removed in 2018, but they were never replaced.
Speaking of the 2018 incident, a spokesperson told OCCRP “we take our duty of care to the environment incredibly seriously and deeply regret any negative impact when things go wrong. We work tirelessly to protect and enhance the environment, and find it deeply distressing when incidents like this occur.”
The company also said that it made a donation of £60,000 ($73,545) to local environmental charities “to help fund their projects and benefit the local environment.”
“We know there’s no room for complacency,” Anglian Water told OCCRP, “and we’re absolutely determined to improve further and progress towards achieving our zero pollutions goal.”
