Severn Trent Water Ltd pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates’ Court on Friday last week to one charge relating to a breach of their environmental permit conditions. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £2,046.66 in costs.

Thames Water was ordered to pay £27,779.15 by Staines Magistrates Court on Friday last week for causing the pollution of the Engine River near to Walton Lane, Weybridge between 4 and 15 November 2011.

Northern Ireland Water (NIW) has been fined £2,000 plus court costs for a major sewage pollution offence.

A dairy distribution depot in Essex has been fined £30,000 for allowing milk to escape from their premises and pollute a watercourse in Barking.

South West Water was ordered to pay £32,967 in fines and costs in court last week for a series of illegal sewage discharges into Salcombe harbour.

South West Water has been ordered to pay £39,365 in fines and costs for a pollution incident which occurred close to a shellfishery, allowing sewage to escape into the River Dart near Galmpton in South Devon. Telemetry problems and pump failure were contributory factors in the incident.

Thames Water has been ordered to pay £61,049 after devastating the aquatic life in two rural brooks in Hampshire and Berkshire killing between 7,500 and 22,000 fish.

The Environment Agency has confirmed that river life along a seven mile stretch of a tributary of the River Thames has been wiped out following a devastating raw sewage spill.

Scottish Water was fined £7,500 at Dornoch Sheriff Court on Monday for allowing untreated sewage to discharge to a Brora burn for a week, resulting in a number of fish deaths.

WWF has reiterated a call for a moratorium on any shale gas activity in the UK and highlighted its concerns over water contamination as Cuadrilla Resources announced the results of exploratory drilling near Blackpool.