Thames Water fined greater than £3m over sewage spill that turned rivers black close to Gatwick Airport

Thames Water have been fined greater than £3m after admitting polluting rivers.

The firm, which provides one in 4 folks in Britain with water, had pleaded responsible to 4 expenses referring to illegally discharging waste.

It was fined £3.3m at Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday.

The courtroom heard “millions of litres” of undiluted sewage was pumped into the Gatwick Stream and River Mole between Crawley in West Sussex and Horley in Surrey on 11 October, 2017.

The listening to was advised that the spill turned the water “black” and killed greater than 1,000 fish.

Judge Christine Laing KC stated that she believed the agency had proven a “deliberate attempt” to mislead the Environment Agency over the incident, by omitting water readings and submitting a report back to the regulator denying accountability.

The firm has beforehand been fined £32.4m for air pollution incidents within the Thames Valley and south-west London between 2017 and 2021.

During the primary day of the listening to on Monday, the courtroom heard how a storm pump at Crawley Sewage Treatment Works website was unexpectedly diverting sewage to its storm tank for 21 hours and went “unnoticed”.

Prosecutor Sailesh Mehta estimated untreated sewage was spilling into the river for six and a half hours after no alarm was raised.

When an alarm was raised the lead technician was unreachable as they had been ready for a brand new cell phone.

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Eyewitness accounts learn in courtroom stated how they noticed the river flip “black” and “grey”, with “huge numbers of dead fish” seen within the water.

Nearly 1,400 lifeless fish had been recovered from the rivers by the Environment Agency following the incident.

Lisa Roberts KC, representing Thames Water, stated the agency expresses its “unreserved and sincere apology” for the incident, including: “Put bluntly, it shouldn’t have happened and Thames deeply regrets the event.”

She stated the corporate rejects that earlier points had been responsible for the spillage, placing it right down to a “faulty switch” within the storm pump which meant the incident couldn’t have been predicted.

A £33m plan to enhance the Crawley website has been put in place because the incident, in accordance with Ms Roberts, with goals to finish it by the tip of March 2025.

New techniques have additionally been rolled out throughout different Thames Water websites to forestall such incidents taking place once more.

The advantageous comes as the corporate faces issues over its future amid a mounting £14bn debt.

Thames Water’s chief govt Sarah Bentley stepped down with fast impact final week after she gave up her bonus as a result of firm’s environmental efficiency.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a document £90m for practically 7,000 incidents of unlawful discharge of sewage throughout Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.