A water company has been fined £20,000 for polluting the Plym Estuary with sewage.
Overview
The Environment Agency (EA) reported that in May 2010 EA officers carried out a survey of surface water outfalls along the western shore of the Plym Estuary.
They found three outfalls in an area known as Arnolds Point, one of which, the Lipson Stream, was discoloured. A sample from this outfall was ‘grossly contaminated’ with sewage. Large amounts of sewage debris was visible around this outfall and along the surrounding foreshore.
South West Water was alerted and, following an investigation, the pollution traced to the water company’s Bernice Terrace combined sewer overflow that forms part of the sewerage system serving approximately 500 homes in the Mannamead area of Plymouth.
The pollution was caused by the loss of a weir plate that would normally have kept sewage within the foul sewer.
Under the terms of two discharge consents for the site, South West Water is only allowed to discharge sewage during storms and periods of high rainfall. On both the occasions Agency officers found crude sewage coming out of the Lipson Stream when the weather was dry.
Outcome
The EA prosecuted South West Water, of Peninsula House, Rydon Lane, Exeter. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £3,400 costs by Plymouth magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 of discharging polluting matter into the Plym Estuary at Arnold’s Point, Plymouth.
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Source: Environment Agency
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