A recent Environment Agency (EA) investigation found that Southern Water had failed to meet the conditions set out in its environmental permit for Tunbridge Wells North wastewater treatment works and subsequently fined the company £24,000.
The company pleaded guilty to the charges under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and submitted in mitigation that it had already spent £360,000 on improvement to the treatment works and a further £6M was planned for the future.
The company will actually end up paying in excess of £57,000 after being ordered to also pay costs of £33,218 after the case was brought by the Environment Agency for exceeding permitted levels of discharge into the Somerhill Stream in the town between July 2013 and July 2014.
The conditions of the environmental permit are set by the Environment Agency to support a healthy river for wildlife and recreation.
David Willis, EA environment manager, said: “We take these incidents very seriously and do everything within our powers to safeguard the environment and people that may be affected. We expect companies to take all necessary actions to comply with the conditions set out in environmental permits and welcome Southern Water’s commitment to spend a further £6M on planned improvement works.â€
The infringement was not the first time that Southern Water has exceeded permitted levels of discharge however; it was also fined £200,000 after untreated sewage was discharged into the sea off Margate between January and June 2011.
The company stated then that this occurred due to defective pumps at the Margate pumping station in Kent. The repeated failure of the pumps meant Southern Water was unable to pump the sewage to Weatherlees Works for treatment, and instead discharged it into the sea off Margate.
Southern Water unreservedly apologised and said it had spent £1.7m addressing “complex engineering issues” at the pumping station that caused the problems. Another £400,000 was earmarked and plans for another pumping station were being drawn up. The firm said it had also supported the local tourist industry with a series of promotional projects, and that although the company had failed to operate within its environmental permit, Margate beaches continued to meet European quality standards.
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