Yorkshire Water has been fined £7,500 after sewage was found in a beck (small mountain stream) which runs into a North Yorkshire bathing beach.
The Environment Agency (EA) reported that the company admitted a charge of failing to comply with its environmental permit following the incident in Runswick Beck, Runswick Bay on 26 April 2010.
A member of the public alerted EA officers to sewage fungus which was visible on the bed of the beck. The officers found that the water has a grey tinge and there was a smell of sewage.
The sewage was traced to a Yorkshire Water pumping station at Runswick Bay where sewage solids were visible and the odour was stronger.
Yorkshire Water was alerted and it confirmed that there was a fault with the pumps and discharge had been stopped.
An EA officer took water samples and carried out a biological survey of the beck immediately downstream of the pumping station. He found dead snails and midge larva, and the only living creatures were pollution-tolerant worms.
A second site further downstream found that there was still strong pollution and 43 per cent of the midge larvae discovered, were dead.
The EA brought the case which was heard before Scarborough magistrates who fined the company £7,500 and ordered them to pay £1,581.67 in court costs.
Source: Environment Agency
