Anglian Water and a contractor have been fined a total of £60,000 after raw sewage leaked into a river killing more than 2,400 fish.

On 27 December 2018, a sewer owned by Anglian Water collapsed in Stanground, Peterborough.

The water company employed contractors Danaher & Walsh (Civil Engineering) Ltd to come in and fix the problem temporarily.

Danaher and Walsh set up an over-pumping system to pump the sewage back into the drainage system. However, it became blocked with rag; items that shouldn’t be flushed, like baby wipes. A few days later, it failed, leading to sewage ending up in Stanground Lode.

Neither company reported the incident to the Environment Agency; instead, a concerned member of the public called the agency’s incident hotline.

Environment Agency investigators found that the watercourse had been polluted for 1.6 kilometres and that at least 2,413 fish died. Among the species killed by the sewage were roach, bream, pike and European eel. This species is currently listed as a “critically endangered” species under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

According to the Environment Agency, untreated sewage could have been discharging into the river for up to 10 hours. Levels of ammonia monitored downstream from the discharge were found to be 200 times higher than average water quality standards.

In mitigation, Danaher and Walsh said it would have been unable to predict how much rag would be flushed in this time. It said that it had never come across a blockage like that seen at Stanground in 30 years of operating.

Both companies appeared at Peterborough magistrates’ court on 1 June 2022, where they both pleaded guilty. They were charged with causing an illegal sewage discharge between 5 January and 8 January 2019 which polluted Stanground Lode. This is contrary to regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The judge deemed there was a low level of culpability from both defendants.

Anglian Water “We take our responsibilities very seriously, and deeply regret the incident"

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said:

“We take our responsibilities to the natural environment very seriously, and deeply regret the incident in Stanground in 2019.

“In December 2018, a partially collapsed sewer at Stanground was being overpumped using three industrial pumps. On the night of 6 January 2019, the pumps became blocked by unflushables.  

“Sewage backed up and spilt into a roadside ditch which then connected through underground pipework to the Stanground Lode. Within minutes of being alerted to the issue, a Danaher & Walsh member of staff and a pump engineer from the supplier arrived on site and resolved the problem with the pumps.

“The next day pollution was observed further downstream of the overpumps in the Riverside Mead Marina. Anglian Water dammed the roadside ditch and used tankers to remove the affected water. Unfortunately some small fish were killed in Riverside Mead Marina however, because of the prompt actions of our team, the water quickly returned to normal.

“During the sentencing, District Judge Ken Sheraton found that the offence was committed with little or no fault on the part of Anglian Water or Danaher & Walsh and that proper procedures were in place to maintain the overpumps during the work. Unfortunately, a significant amount of plastics and wet wipes stopped the pumps from working only hours after they has been thoroughly checked.

“Unflushables items like wet wipes, sanitary items and cotton buds cause significant problems in our sewer network when they are wrongly disposed of down the drain. They lead to blockages and in the worst cases, pollutions to the environment like this. We clear over 40,000 blockages a year and is why we’ve raised awareness of the issue through our Keep it Clear campaign for over a decade.

“However, we understand our responsibilities to protect the environment, and know there’s no room for complacency, we’re absolutely determined to improve further and progress towards achieving our zero pollutions goal.”

Anglian Water was fined £50,000 and told to pay £24,387.58 in costs. Danaher and Walsh was fined £10,000 and told to pay £5,000 in costs.

Environment Agency - “We are disappointed with the fine issued in this case”

Yvonne Daly, an environment manager at the Environment Agency in Cambridgeshire, said:

“We are disappointed with the fine issued in this case and would like to see higher penalties to really deter polluters from future offences.

“Both companies in this case failed in their environmental duties, leaving to a devastating impact on the local biodiversity. Moreover, they failed to notify the Environment Agency when something had gone wrong.”

In 2021, the courts fined water companies £102,490,000 for pollution incidents following Environment Agency prosecutions.