Yorkshire Water fined £733K for repeatedly polluting country park's stream and killing fish and insects
Yorkshire Water has been fined more than £733,000 in court for repeatedly polluting the stream in a country park over the course of a year.
The Environment Agency said that fish and river insects were killed in one incident, while pictures show the stream full of sewage.
The regulator took Yorkshire Water to court over three pollution incidents in Poolsbrook Country Park, between Chesterfield and Sheffield, in 2018 and 2019.
The firm was fined £733,333, plus costs and victim surcharges, at Derby Crown Court today, after admitting to the offences last year.
A spokesperson said that in the seven years since the last incident at Poolsbrook Yorkshire Water has invested £2.5m to move the sewers involved.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: “This repeated sewage pollution by Yorkshire Water is appalling and the £733k fine handed out today sends a clear message that polluters will pay.
“Our water reforms will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. We have already banned unfair bonuses for water bosses and introduced tough new penalties to crack down on pollution.
“And we’re not stopping there. We are creating a new stronger regulator for the industry, with powers to do MOT-style checks on water assets, preventing failures before they happen.”
The first pollution incident happened on 1 October 2018, when a rising main sewer pipe from Poolsbrook sewage pumping station burst.
This caused untreated sewage to spill from a manhole into the stream that runs through the country park, the EA said. This stream runs through a pond and into the River Doe Lea.
Various fish in the country park’s pond were killed – including tench, pike and roach – along with dead river insects, the regulator said.
The impact on water quality stretched for over 600 metres. The second incident, on 27 February 2019, was caused by a blockage of wet wipes, which led to a leak of sewage into the surface water pipe, which entered the stream.
The EA said that while there was no evidence of fish being affected this time, the impact on water quality was evident over 700 metres.
The third pollution incident, on 7 August 2019, was caused by a failure of a joint coupling which led to sewage spilling into the surface water pipe and entering the Poolsbrook stream, again impacting water quality for around 600 metres.
Yorkshire Water would not attend an interview for any of the three incidents, the EA claimed.
EA chair Alan Lovell said: “Polluting the same stream three times in less than a year is unacceptable and we’re pleased Yorkshire Water has now been dealt with by the courts following our investigation.
“We expect full compliance and are committed to taking robust enforcement action where we see serious breaches.
“This year we are on track to complete 10,000 inspections of water company assets, and with more staff, better data and increased powers, we are determined to hold water companies to account.”
Yorkshire Water was one of the worst firms in the country for serious pollution incidents, the most recent figures found, while this led to its executives being banned from taking bonuses.
The spokesperson explained: “In the seven years since the last incident at Pools Brook occurred, we’ve invested over £2.5m to relocate the two sewers involved in these incidents as well as identifying key learnings which have been embedded across our business.
“We have also looked carefully at our company processes to enhance these where necessary so we make sure a similar incident doesn’t happen again.
“Protecting the environment is a key part of what we aim to do, so when incidents occur that fall far below our normal standards we ensure they are thoroughly investigated and put actions in place to make sure they don’t happen again.
“No pollution incident is ever acceptable. We want to apologise for the impact the incidents at Pools Brook had in 2018 and 2019 which were the result of an inadequate external protective coating being applied to one of the sewers and wet wipes building up and causing blockages in the other sewer.”