THAMES Water has been fined £4 million after an estimated half a million litres of raw sewage poured into a stream in Oxford.

The Environment Agency said the 30 hour flow of sewage discharged into the Seacourt and Hinksey stream in July 2016.

The discharge polluted at least 3.5 kilometres along the streams, through a pub garden and past community allotments.

The Environment Agency believes it was responsible for the deaths of up to 3,000 fish, including perch, chub, roach, gudgeon and bullheads, some of them up to nine years old.

Aylesbury Crown Court heard how the company had failed to carry out essential maintenance.

It had no system in place to identify blockages or pollution occurring and instead relied, not for the first time, on observations by members of the public.

 

Sentencing the company, Judge Francis Sheridan said the pollution was "avoidable" and was a "serious failure".

The incident was reported to the Environment Agency by canoeists who found themselves paddling in sewage amongst dead fish.

Robert Davis, an attending Environment Agency senior officer, said: "It was quite horrific. Sewage pollution was bank to bank and there was a foul stench of raw sewage. When we traced the source we found a waterfall of raw sewage discharging via a pipe into the streams. Amongst the dead fish, Fisheries officers observed hundreds more on the surface, suffering and gasping for oxygen."

The court also heard that during a major sewer renewal project in 2012, Thames Water opted for a solution which saved them many millions and which critically relied upon a six monthly cleaning of the sewer.

However, the company failed to comply with the permit in not having a documented programme covering the maintenance of the downstream sewer, despite being in possession of a manual which clearly outlined the requirement for it.

Through a painstaking criminal investigation, it transpired that the water company had failed to adequately maintain this high risk section of sewer for at least 16 years, the Environment Agency said.

The Environment Agency had previously issued Thames Water with two formal warnings following earlier pollution from the same discharge point due to an earlier blockage in February and March 2012.

Richard Aylard, Thames Water's sustainability director, said in a statement: "We pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and accept the judgement of the court that we failed badly by not inspecting and cleaning this part of the sewer system.

"But things have changed. As part of the comprehensive turnaround programme we are doing five times as much sewer cleaning as we were in 2016."

This latest conviction brings the total amount of fines levied against Thames Water since 2017 to £32.4 million for 11 cases of water pollution across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

It also follows the announcement that the Environment Agency and Ofwat have both launched new investigations into sewage treatment works after new checks led to water companies admitting that they could be releasing unpermitted sewage discharges.

Any company caught breaching their permits could face a range of possible enforcement action – up to and including prosecution.

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