Yorkshire Water fined over £700,000 for sewage spills at Chesterfield country park
Yorkshire Water has been fined over £700,000 for polluting a Chesterfield country park stream three times in less than a year.
The fine was dished out by Judge Martin Reynolds for the spills into the stream at Poolsbrook Country Park in Staveley – one of which killed fish including tench, pike and roach along with river insects and impacted water quality for over 600 metres.
Derby Crown Court heard today (Monday) how the firm had allowed a rising main sewer pipe to corrode before it burst, spewing out the sludge into the River Doe Lea via the stream and a pond.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds branded the leaks “appalling”, adding: “The £733,000 fine handed out today sends a clear message that polluters will pay.”
The first pollution incident happened on October 1, 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.
This stream runs through a pond and into the River Doe Lea. Various fish in the country park pond were killed – including tench, pike and roach – along with dead river insects. The impact on water quality stretched for over 600 metres. The failure of the rising main was due to severe corrosion.
The second pollution incident, on February 27, 2019, was caused by a blockage in the plastic foul sewer pipe leading to a pressure build up in a joint of the pipe.
This foul sewer pipe was suspended on chains inside a surface water sewer pipe, which would normally only contain rainwater and runs into the Pools Brook stream. The blockage – mainly wet wipes - eventually caused a leak of sewage into the surface water pipe, which entered the stream.
While there was no evidence of fish being affected, the impact on water quality was evident over 700 metres. The third pollution incident, which happened on August 7, 2019, was caused by a failure of a joint coupling in the same plastic foul sewer pipe to the previous incident, but in a different location.
Again, this led to sewage spilling into the surface water pipe and entering the Poolsbrook stream. There was no evidence of fish affected, but water quality was impacted for over 600 metres.
Yorkshire Water would not attend an interview for any of the three incidents, Derby Crown Court heard.
Chair of the Environment Agency, 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 fined £733,333 plus costs and victim surcharges, having admitted contravening the requirements of an environmental permit.
Speaking after the hearing a spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “In the seven years since the last incident at Pools Brook occurred we’ve invested over £2.5 million 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 Poolsbrook 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.
“Looking ahead, we are underway with our largest ever environmental investment programme where we are investing £8.3 billion before 2030 - an average of £3.2 million every day – to improve service levels, reduce any negative impact on the environment and make the water infrastructure in Yorkshire fit for the future.
"This reflects our long-term commitment to delivering better service for our customers, communities, and the environment across our region.”