10.10.2008

Anglian Water Fined £11,000 Following Water Pollution

Anglian Water was fined £11,000 for twice allowing sewage from a treatment works to severely pollute watercourses near Ely.

The first instance took place at Wilburton when a forseeable and preventable discharge of sewage from a treatment works severely polluted a tributary of the Grunty Fen Catchwater Drain.

Anglian water admitted causing the pollution and said there had been a failing in their internal system to ensure a generator was at the site in time for the power shut down but some modifications had since been made. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £2,283.

On the second occasion sewage was discharged into a tributary of the Hundred Foot Drain at Sutton, near Ely, Cambridgeshire after a sewer became blocked and an alarm failed to go off.

The water company was fined £5,000 and ordered it to pay full costs of £3,064 after hearing that the pollution had been ongoing for a number of days and had grossly polluted the watercourse for 900metres.