'Reckless' Southwest Water fined £8m for sewage spills.

Source: Sharecast

The penalty, imposed at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, is the largest ever fine for environmental offences in Devon and Cornwall, according to the Environment Agency.

South West Water had previously pleaded guilty to 18 charges, including 17 relating to illegal water discharges and one for failing to take reasonable remedial action following a pumping station failure.

The offences took place between January 2015 and July 2021 across sites in Bodmin, Harlyn, Playing Place, Polperro and Plymouth.

The company was fined £7.87m, as well as being ordered to pay nearly £330,000 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

The Environment Agency said hundreds of sewage spills occurred over the six-year period, including 231 discharges of untreated sewage onto Harlyn beach between 2016 and 2021, and 336 illegal spills at a sewage works near Bodmin in the seven years to March 2020.

At Polperro Harbour, untreated sewage was discharged through the harbour wall during the August 2019 bank holiday, with South West Water taking 10 hours to attend despite alarms being triggered. The company was fined £1.1m for that incident alone.

District Judge Matson said pollution incidents “will not be tolerated”, while the Environment Agency said it hoped the record fine would prompt South West Water to put environmental protection at the centre of spending decisions.