A water company fined £90,000 for dumping sewage into a river has been unable to explain two of the spillages.
Following a successful prosecution of Welsh Water Ltd for dumping excessive waste into the River Wye near Hereford, the Environment Agency warned that it will go after firms behind preventable spillages.
Routine sampling showed the company’s Kingstone and Madley sewage treatment works dumped waste at above the permitted level on three occasions between August 2020 and June 2021.
In the second incident, effluent levels were recorded at 74 milligrams per litre of biochemical oxygen – more than 10 times the permitted 7 milligrams per litre.
Welsh Water said it could not identify the cause of the breaches on the first two occasions, but that the third breach happened because of a storm.
David Gillam, co-founder of Save the Wye, a coalition campaign to restore the river, said it was “really distressing” to learn of the repeated sewage dumping.
Living only a few miles from the Madley sewage works, Mr Gillam told The Independent: “What is really surprising is on two occasions, Welsh Water couldn’t even explain how it happened.”
Praising the EA prosecution, he said: “I hope they will treat other companies that poison the Wye in the same way. It’s right for companies who regularly pollute the river to be fined.
“And I would hope that the fine goes into a fund to restore the Wye.”
On 7 June, the company pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court in a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.
The company was fined £90,000 and told to pay a further £14,275 in costs.
The Environment Agency’s Adam Shipp said: “Incidents like this are preventable and are completely unacceptable. Water companies are aware that their activities have the potential for serious environmental impacts, and they know that we will take action when they cause pollution.”
A spokesperson for Welsh Water said: “We take our responsibility for protecting the environment seriously. We helped ensure 44 per cent of our rivers meet good ecological status compared to 16 per cent in England.”
They added: “We are committed to playing our part to help protect river water quality. We have invested £53 million over the past 12 months, on seven schemes to help improve the quality of the River Wye, which have all been completed ahead of schedule.”
