Severn Trent was penalized with a fine exceeding £2m for contaminating the River Trent near Stoke. The Environment Agency criticized the company’s storm contingency plans as “extremely insufficient”.
Large quantities of untreated sewage were released into the river from the Strongford wastewater treatment facility located near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, from November 2019 to February 2020.
On Monday, District Judge Kevin Grego declared at Cannock Magistrates Court that the water supplier did not have an adequate system in place for contingency planning and failed to implement one.
Previously, Severn Trent admitted guilt for two counts of unlawfully releasing untreated sewage.
According to the PA news agency, the company was penalized a total of £1,072,000, including £1 million in fines, £16,476 in costs, and a victim’s surcharge of £181. This was due to the illegal discharge of about 240 million litres of raw sewage by the company.
Two of the three screw pumps at Strongford works malfunctioned, causing sewage to enter the river.
Adam Shipp, a senior officer for the Environment Agency and head of the investigation, stated: “Severn Trent was lucky that this event did not result in a catastrophic contamination of the Trent River as it was already experiencing high water levels at the time of the discharge.”
Our examination revealed that their emergency plans were extremely lacking, as a crucial pump had been out of commission for 52 days before the event occurred. Despite being aware of the impending arrival of Storm Clara and Storm Dennis, Severn Trent failed to take proactive measures to obtain alternative pumps and bring them to the site.
Ignore the newsletter advertisement.
after newsletter promotion
“After the second pump malfunctioned, obtaining and installing a new pump became extremely challenging. As a result, the system did not operate correctly for an additional five days and eight hours.”
The reaction from a professional multinational company was unexpected. As a result, they have implemented onsite measures to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.
Source: theguardian.com
