United Utilities Water PLC was fined £12,000 at Wigan Magistrates Court last week for allowing untreated sewage to enter the River Douglas, Wigan. The company was also ordered to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £1,944.36.
United Utilities pleaded guilty to three offences;
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causing sewage effluent to be discharged into the River Douglas
failing to notify the Environment Agency that there was potential to operate the emergency overflow system
failing to maintain the duty pump and the stand by pump at Chorley Road Pumping Station, Standish, Wigan
The court heard that on the afternoon of the 15 July 2009 the Environment Agency investigated a report of a serious pollution incident that caused 8km of the River Douglas, Wigan to turn a dark blue colour with evidence of thousands of dead fish (road, perch, chub and eels). Officers investigating possible sources of the pollution contacted United Utilities Water PLC to establish if there had been any breakdowns or overflows from any local systems.
United Utilities informed Environment Agency officers that they had identified a problem that had occurred at Chorley Road Pumping Station, Standish, Wigan. Due to a failure in pump operation the sewage system did not perform as necessary and caused effluent to be discharge into the river.
A failure with the pumps and with United Utilities' central telemetry system lead it to be over five hours before there was a UU officer onsite to rectify the fault following the discharge. Over 20,000 litres of clean water were flushed through the river system in order to rectify the problem.
Ian Gaskell, Environment Agency Officer said:
“A series of faults at the pumping station caused sewage effluent to enter the river leading to a serious pollution incident. Thousands of fish were killed on a large stretch of the River Douglas and on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
It is unfortunate that a number of faults occurred at the same time, as if we had been alerted earlier action could have been taken to help minimise and prevent the impact of the pollution to the river. “
United Utilities has agreed to help with the restocking of fish in the River Douglas.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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