Northumbrian Water has been prosecuted by the Environment Agency (EA) following three separate pollution incidents in north east England.

The company has been ordered to pay more than £33,600 in fines and costs for polluting a Tyne Valley burn with untreated sewage effluent at Broomley, in addition to two unpermitted discharges of sewage effluent at both Summerhouse & Killerby Sewage Treatment Works near Darlington.

The EA said the pollution at Broomley originated from a storm overflow channel. These allow rainwater and sewage effluent to bypass a sewage treatment works in times of heavy rainfall, to avoid the works' capacity being exceeded. To be lawful, storm overflows should be incorporated into the works' environmental permit. However, Northumbrian Water's environmental permit at Broomley states that discharges to Smithy Burn should consist only of treated sewage effluent.

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Chris Bunting, prosecuting for the EA, told the court that investigations found a build-up of silt had prevented flow from reaching the works, and instead diverted it to the storm overflow. Northumbrian Water's maintenance inspections hadn't included a requirement to check a manhole chamber where the blockage would likely have been discovered. Formal samples were taken from the burn and an ecological survey revealed a thick sewage fungus affecting the watercourse for 100m downstream of the outfall, which had starved the water of oxygen and resulted in the death of freshwater shrimp and midge larvae.

At the Summerhouse & Killerby Sewage Treatment Works, the EA said its inspections found both facilities to be in a poor state of repair with faulty equipment. Rather than discharging treated sewage effluent, at Killerby sampling showed effluent leaving the works was more polluted than where it arrived.

Malcolm Galloway, appearing for Northumbrian Water, blamed the faults on staff not following the company's inspection procedures and added the company has a good compliance record. Mr Galloway added that the storm overflow at Broomley had been permitted because it was included in the permit application made back in 1989.

In sentencing, District Judge Roger Elsey ruled that the company's culpability was low, but that the additional offences meant the fine had to be increased.

EA Area Environment Manager, Fiona Morris, said: "The incident at Broomley had a significant impact on the ecology of Smithy Burn. This case demonstrates how important it is that water companies and wider regulated industries understand and comply with the conditions by which they are permitted to operate."

(LM/MH)