‘It should not be happening’: Yorkshire Water breached its Environment Agency permits over 250 times - here is all we know

But on May 11 last year, the Environment Agency issued a warning to Yorkshire Water after the company self-reported a “discharge of sewage into a riverine SSSI” in the leafy village of Stamford Bridge near York.

Details of the warning have only now come to light following a Yorkshire Post Freedom of Information request.

The Environment Agency subsequently confirmed that Yorkshire Water was ordered to bring the site back into compliance by August 7 last year after the incident occurred during a period of “dry weather or a non-emergency situation”. While water companies are allowed to discharge materials from combined sewage systems – the systems which contain a mix of waste from toilets and water run off – during times of heavy rainfall, the same rules do not apply during dry weather.

Yorkshire Water said that it had received an alarm at around 3pm on the day of the discharge, with crew arriving shortly after 4pm and finding a blockage within a pumping station caused by a foreign object. The company added that it had resolved the issue “quickly with minimal impact to the watercourse” just after 5pm.

This incident was, however, just one in a string of 259 permit breaches committed by Yorkshire Water which the Environment Agency has recorded over the last two years, including broken sections of sewage systems left out of order for several months, and a failure to notify the agency of an asset failure which had potential to cause "pollution to the environment".

These also came amongst 146 warnings issued to the company from the Environment Agency, and at least 89 accounts of discharge from sewage systems outside permitted events or times.

Yorkshire Water said it was unable to “replicate” these figures, but did not confirm the numbers it believed to be the correct ones.

Councillor Arnold Warneken, a North Yorkshire councillor who has worked to protect waterways in the region, described The Yorkshire Post’s findings as “absolutely shocking”.

He added: “I’m really not happy about what has been discovered here. I want accountability. I want Yorkshire Water to see this information and not make excuses.

“Don’t say you’re putting in millions to clean up the water. Don’t treat the symptom, treat the cause. They wouldn’t need to treat the water if they didn’t pollute it. All those millions spent cleaning it could be spent another way.”

Documents from the Environment Agency also revealed multiple accounts of Yorkshire Water receiving warnings for failing to rectify on-going issues.

In June of last year, the Environment Agency issued a warning to Yorkshire Water for an out of order section of its system at a wastewater treatment works in Elleker, East Yorkshire. The agency said this had been “out of order for over eight months with no signs of repair” and that at the time of inspection “appeared to be affecting treatment”.

On the same day, the agency also issued a warning for a broken effluent pipe at the Elleker site, which it said was “discharging to ground” and had been doing so for “over eight months”.

August 2022 saw the Environment Agency issue a warning to Yorkshire Water for an event it listed as “failure to investigate and notify the organisation of the asset failure which is on-going, and has the potential to cause pollution to the environment”, at Sheffield Lane Dike, close to Deerlands Avenue.

Documents given to The Yorkshire Post also showed comments from Environment Agency inspectors.

Yorkshire Water was issued a warning in 2022 for having “significant volumes of sludge” in two of its storm tanks at the Pool WPC Works along the River Wharfe.

Comments from an EA inspector read: “Both storm tanks contained significant volumes of sludge. One of the spillways to the tanks was full of sludge and the extensive growths of herbage therein suggested these had been colonised over years, not merely months.

“Similarly a spillway to one of the tanks is full of sludge and herbage, which needs to be removed before it is designated as a nature reserve in its own right.”

Yorkshire Water was asked to ensure tanks are cleaned and sludge removed “forthwith”.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We assess and record every incident report we receive, and any breach of permit conditions is taken very seriously.

“We will always hold those responsible for serious environmental harm to account and we will not hesitate to take enforcement action where necessary.”

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility for the environment seriously and invest heavily in infrastructure improvements.

“In the last ten years Yorkshire Water has invested £4.5bn in new fixed assets. This financial year alone almost £800m is being invested across the region to improve our clean and wastewater networks and to ensure we deliver the service our customers expect.

“We and our customers care deeply about river health and we want to provide reassurance that we have already taken considerable action to improve.”

Councillor Andrew Cousins, one of three councillors to represent the village of Stamford Bridge, said he was shocked to learn of discharge into an SSSI.

“It should not be happening in the 21st Century,” he said.

“Obviously we have Sites of Special Scientific Interest because they are relatively rare and unique. The Derwent is quite a free flowing and large body of water, but these things just shouldn't be happening.

Natural England defines Sites of Special Scientific Interest as “the finest sites for wildlife and natural features in England, supporting many characteristic, rare and endangered species, habitats and natural features.

Speaking on how he felt the local public would respond to a discharge of sewage in Stamford Bridge, Coun Cousins added that he felt people would be “surprised”.

“The area is managed as a floodplain, and it’s managed to encourage wildlife,” he said.

“It's full of wildflowers, there are buzzards, there are kestrels. It's a beautiful place to be, and I just happen to live in a village that sits on the edge, and walk there every day with my dogs.

“The Derwent is a relatively large body of water in the grand scheme of things, and sewage will be diluted, so you lose some of the impacts. But nobody wants to know that they’re walking their dogs in areas that have potentially been flooded with human waste.”

A joint statement from Coun Cousins and his fellow ward colleagues for Stamford Bridge – Coun Dale Needham and Coun Gareth Shephard – described the pollution event as “truly disturbing”.

They said: “It is hard not to be aware of the abject failure of the water companies to do their job, protecting the environment whilst providing clean water and wastewater services.

“We do understand the difficulties experienced by having ageing sewerage systems dealing with combined sewage and surface run-off. But, the promise, back in 1989 when Yorkshire Water was privatised, was of much needed investment in the infrastructure. What we have seen is investment in Shareholders pockets whilst suffering pollution events on a massive scale.

“A truly disturbing event was in our ward, the pollution of the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and just upriver from historic Ings, a wetland of international importance, and a functioning flood plain."

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Yorkshire Water said it had not paid dividends to external shareholders for the last eight years.

A spokesperson for the company added: “We took corrective action required at Stamford Bridge South sewage pumping station to ensure it meets the permit in place with the Environment Agency.

“We reported the incident at Stamford Bridge to the Environment Agency ourselves as part of our self-reporting commitment and the Environment Agency regarded the incident as having a minimal impact on the watercourse.”

Rachael Bice, CEO of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said the number of river pollution events occuring in Yorkshire, especially in protected areas, was “unacceptable”.

She added: “Clean, pollutant-free watercourses are our lifeblood, crucial for people and wildlife. Yet the system designed to manage our watercourses and water supplies is no longer delivering the outcomes needed, and requires urgent action.

“The UK is ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality. Most of our rivers are no longer suitable homes for wildlife, or for recreation; availability is declining from the pressures of growing demand and a changing climate. Pollution can come from a number of sources, and we would expect any and all potential polluters to be taking immediate and extensive action to reduce the likelihood of events.

“We must make our system to supply and treat water work for both people and for wildlife. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is pleased to be working across multiple different river catchment projects in Yorkshire, to campaign for and deliver improvements for the benefit of wildlife and people, and we would like to work more broadly with landowners, water companies and industry to be part of the solution – as a matter of urgency.”