A WATER company has been fined £2.3 million for polluting a stream close to Remenham.
Poor management at the plant in Fawley Court was blamed for the release of sewage with high levels of ammonia.
The incident took place in 2016, and killed 1,144 fish as well as other water life.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard that failure to address equipment faults at a sewage-treatment plant in Oxfordshire made the incident “entirely foreseeable”.
There had been no adequate monitoring in place to manage the risk of pollution, and staff did not respond to alarms highlighting faults in the process.
Judge Francis Sheridan said Thames Water should have reacted to the warnings “long before” they did. He added the pollution and the events leading up to it showed “high negligence” by the company.
An Environment Agency officer who visited on April 23, 2016, reported smelling sewage in the brown water. Another witness reported a number of dead fish and sanitary products in the stream, near to where the pollution occurred.
And the ammonia levels in Fawley Court Ditch were, at worst, double the permitted limits.
Fish from 13 species died, including chub, gudgeon, dace, roach, perch, tench and pike. The stream took almost a year to recover, having lost almost all its fish to the pollution.
The court was told a number of faults at the plant had a significant effect on sewage treatment.
Jackie Outhwaite, a land and water officer for the Environment Agency, led the investigation, and said: “Our investigation found the risk of pollution was increased by a lack of measures in place to prevent it. Thames Water’s failure to respond to warning alarms ultimately led to significant harm on water quality.
“The Environment Agency’s enforcement action over several years and the pressure it has put on water companies has led to £30 billion of investment by the industry in water quality. The damage caused to the environment at Henley, however, shows water companies have a lot more to do to protect the environment.”
Thames Water pleaded guilty to one count of causing a discharge of partially-treated effluent into Fawley Court Ditch and Fawley Court Stream without an environmental permit between 21 and 24 April 2016. It was charged under regulation 12 (1) (b) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2010.
In addition to the fine, the company must pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £87,944.
This latest conviction brings the total amount of fines levied against Thames Water since 2017 to £24.4 million for nine cases of water pollution across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Sarah Bentley, Thames Water CEO, who joined the company in September last year, said: “We’re really sorry for what happened in Henley five years ago.
“Discharges of untreated sewage are simply unacceptable and we will work with the government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency to accelerate work to stop them being necessary.
“Our business plan for the next five years includes an unprecedented amount of investment, much of it directed towards safeguarding the environment. We have a long way to go and we certainly can’t do it on our own – but the ambition is clear.
“My aim will always be to try and do the right thing for our rivers and for the communities who love and value them. I am passionate that we set out stretching targets and learn from past mistakes like this.
“There is still a lot to clean up from the past and also a great deal to invest in the future – with today a brilliant example of both.”
Story updated on Saturday, March 13 to include a comment from Sarah Bentley
