A water company has been ordered to pay a record fine of almost £8m for hundreds of sewage spills at popular bathing spots and sensitive habitats in Cornwall and Devon.
On one occasion, untreated sewage gushed through a harbour wall on a bank holiday weekend but South West Water (SWW) engineers took 10 hours to attend.
Sewage was also discharged into the River Camel, which is home to otter and Atlantic salmon and is popular with birdwatchers and sailors.
Fining SWW £7,867,733 at Plymouth magistrates court – the largest fine for environmental offences in the region – District Judge Matson said incidents of pollution could not be tolerated.
The judge repeatedly found the company’s conduct amounted to reckless failures in management systems and response to known risks.
In August 2019, untreated sewage gushed through the harbour wall on a bank holiday weekend at Polperro harbour on the south coast of Cornwall.
Between January 2016 and July 2021, there were 231 illegal sewage discharges at Harlyn on the north coast of Cornwall, not far from the foodie hotspot of Padstow.
In another case, SWW failed to provide a permanent fix for a sewer that entered a creek in Plymouth, despite multiple formal warnings from the Environment Agency over several years.
The company pleaded guilty to 18 charges, 17 for illegal water discharge activities and one for failing to take reasonable remedial measures after a failure at a pumping station.
Matson described the offences as “horrendous, very significant incidents of pollution” and said they should never happen again.
Despite the company pleading guilty, the judge found that SWW had tried to minimise its role in the offending rather than being remorseful and accepting full responsibility.
Clarissa Newell, area environment manager at the Environment Agency, which led the prosecution, said: “Hundreds of pollution incidents occurred at some of the most scenic locations in Cornwall and Devon, including bathing waters, a designated special area of conservation and a priority habitat. We hope this record fine will influence a new approach for South West Water.”
The fine came as the prime minister, Andy Burnham, described water as a symbol of what had gone wrong with Britain and promised to reverse Margaret Thatcher’s “ideological ban” on the public ownership of water companies
Responding to the fine, the environment secretary, Angela Eagle, said: “For six years, South West Water repeatedly broke the law. That’s why we’re overhauling the water system to give the public control, with tougher regulation, stronger enforcement and greater accountability, so water companies deliver for customers and the environment.”
The Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, Ben Maguire, criticised the punishment. He said: “Yet again, the response is essentially another slap on the wrist fine, which a company of this size can absorb as simply the cost of doing business. The hard-working South West Water technicians and other staff I meet are being completely let down by rotten executives.
“I strongly believe we urgently need much tougher penalties for repeat offenders, including prison sentences for those responsible for overseeing serious and illegal sewage dumping.”
SWW described the offences as “historic” and said: “The majority of the charges concerned the use of overflows in storm conditions. We’re investing £760m to tackle storm overflows and have reduced spills by 17% in the last year alone, with spill duration down by 25%. Significant improvements have been made across the sites concerned. We apologise for what happened in the past, and we remain focused on the future as we deliver record levels of investment.”
The water company was ordered to pay £329,993 costs.
