Crime Solicitors

The Environment Agency has prosecuted Yorkshire Water, after an illegal discharge of sewage into the River Ouse.

The Environment Agency prosecuted the company after its officers spotted the pollution while carrying out a monitoring survey on the River Ouse in August 2013.

Officers saw a large volume of sewage effluent discharging from the works into the Ouse – which could be seen in the water for about 200 metres to Naburn Marina.

Water quality in the river was affected for up to a kilometre as a result.

The sewage had overflowed into the river because of a pump failure at the treatment works – three pumps are needed to cope with the volume of sewage and the company is legally required to have at least one backup pump available in case the others fail.

However, at the time of the incident – when one of the pumps failed – the backup pump was not operational and had been out of use for five months, a breach of the firm’s environmental permit.

With only two pumps working, sewage flowed into emergency storage tanks, filled them up – and approximately 6,000 cubic metres of sewage overflowed through an old outfall into the river, at a location where discharges are not permitted.

Had the backup pump been operational, the pollution incident would have been avoided.

Despite this incident, the backup pump was found to be out of operation again just over a year later during a site inspection by the Environment Agency in September 2014. The pump had been taken away for repair, but had not been replaced.

On Friday 29 April at Leeds Crown Court, Yorkshire Water Services Ltd was sentenced after previously admitting three environmental offences relating to the operation of its Naburn treatment works in Fulford.

Yorkshire Water was fined £1.1million and was ordered to pay £27,073.69 in costs.

In mitigation, the company said that, since April 2015, it had been running a distribution centre that supplies spare pumps and parts, to enable it to replace and repair broken pumps.

After the hearing, environment management team leader at the Environment Agency, Mike Riby, said:

“Water companies have a legal duty to ensure that their operations do not pose a threat to the environment.

“In this case, Yorkshire Water failed to have in place appropriate pumping equipment needed to process sewage at its Naburn treatment works. The resulting pollution had an impact on the quality of the water in the Ouse, affecting up to a kilometre of the river.

“We hope the court’s sentencing decision demonstrates the importance of companies adhering to environmental permitting rules.

“If anyone sees any pollution of this kind, we would urge them to report the matter to our incident hotline on 0800 807060, so we can investigate.”

Duncan Lewis Criminal Solicitors

Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors can advise companies and individuals at any stage of a charge involving environmental offences, including advising during an investigation and before charges are brought for allegations of water pollution, noise pollution, air pollution, fly tipping, failing to manage hazardous waste and waste carrier offences.

There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide and our environmental crime lawyers can attend interviews with investigating authorities, as well as negotiating with the Environment Agency and local authorities.

For expert legal advice on environmental offences, call Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors on 0333 772 0409.