The Environment Agency has prosecuted United Utilities over a serious water pollution incident.

The water company was fined £14,000 on Monday for a serious water pollution incident in July 2009 which caused the death of over 6,000 fish at Three Pools Waterway, Southport.  United Utilities pleaded guilty to the prosecution brought by the Environment Agency at North Sefton  Magistrates’ Court,   and was also ordered to pay the Agency’s costs of £7,863.54.

The incident occurred as a result of failure of the foul water pumps at the Crowland Street pumping station. On 2 July 2009, following a call from a member of the public, officers from the Environment Agency visited the site where they met representatives from United Utilities and took samples of the discharge of the effluent and of the watercourse both upstream and downstream. It became apparent that there had been a large discharge of sewage which had had a devastating effect on the fish population.

The pollution caused the oxygen levels in the watercourse to fall and ammonia contained in the sewage is toxic to fish. The Environment Agency tried to reduce the impact of the pollution by deploying hydrogen peroxide to boost oxygen levels in the watercourse. Despite their efforts a three mile stretch of the river was badly affected. The fish included roach, bream, tench, pike and perch of all sizes and ages. It is estimated that it will take seven to ten years for the river to recover.

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said:

“This was a major incident which had a devastating impact of the fish population. United Utilities own and operate the sewer network throughout the region and are responsible for resolving any problems with this system.  This incident caused significant damage to the environment, which could have been avoided or considerably reduced if the company had correctly reset a pump when it responded to an alarm.”

The seriousness of the incident has meant that it is also subject to the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (England) Regulations 2009. The regulations came into effect on 1 March 2009 and look to remediate any serious environmental damage.

The aim of remediation under the regulations is to achieve the same level of natural resource or service as would have existed if the damage had not occurred and includes compensatory remediation to compensate for the interim losses pending full recovery. The company was served with a liability notice as part of the regulations procedure.  It has requested the Environment Agency formulate proposals for remediation - these are under consideration and may involve additional compensatory measures in addition to the significant restocking of the river which has recently taken place.

United Utilities have put in place a number of measures at the pumping station to avoid this kind of incident happening again.