The Environment Agency has accepted an Enforcement Undertaking from Severn Trent Water after a pumping station fault caused pollution along 1 kilometre of a Leicestershire brook.
West Meadow Brook, near Whitwick, was polluted when Severn Trent Water failed to operate a pumping station properly. An investigation by the Environment Agency revealed that the issue was not corrected for a few weeks in September 2022.
The Environment Agency received reports of discharged sewage into the brook on 12 September 2022. Contractors arrived at Brooks Lane Pumping Station the same day to stop the discharge. The investigation revealed, however, that the discharge had been on-going for some weeks before. At the site, there was an “overwhelming” odour and a thick coating of sewage fungus covering the bed. Human faecal matter was also visible.
Severn Trent admitted that their teams had failed to see that pumps had ‘latched out’ and were not activated. The company also admitted that their teams had failed to monitor the site when the telemetry system had failed.
The case has ended in the company offering an Enforcement Undertaking (EU) and giving Trent Rivers Trust £600,000, to help improve and restore vital habitats in the area.
An Enforcement Undertaking is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals where the Environment Agency has reason to believe an offence has been committed, and usually includes a payment to an environmental charity to carry out improvements.
Neil Ratcliffe, the investigating officer for the East Midlands Environment Agency, said:
“Protecting the environment in the East Midlands and taking action against those that damage or threaten this is our utmost priority.
“We will always consider prosecution in the most serious cases, but Enforcement Undertakings are an effective enforcement tool for less serious cases.
“EUs allow companies to put things right and contribute to environmental improvements.
“They also allow polluters to correct and restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents by improving procedures.”
