New Delhi: UK’s Wessex Water was fined £500,000 by Swindon Magistrates’ Court Monday, for two sewage leaks that killed thousands of fish, a UK government release stated. The company pleaded guilty to three charges related to incidents at Bowerhill Lodge sewage pumping station in Melksham, Wiltshire, and Wick St Lawrence sewage treatment works near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. Additionally, the company was ordered to pay costs of £60,000 (plus VAT) and a victim surcharge of £170, the release added.
The court heard that more than 2,100 fish died in the Clackers Brook, a tributary of the River Avon, during a discharge at Bowerhill Lodge that lasted 54.5 hours. These included eels, lamprey, and bullheads – three species that are threatened and are also listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The discharge was caused by a mechanical failure, and it sent sewage through a nature conservation area.
The company’s failure to promptly report the incident to the Environment Agency raised concerns, the release stated. An investigation revealed that failures in the pumping station’s alarm and telemetry system, as well as a power cable becoming entangled in pump equipment, contributed to the malfunctions. Furthermore, the investigation uncovered other discharges from Bowerhill Lodge Pumping Station earlier that year that had not been reported to the Environment Agency.