Water company hit with record £120m fine over sewage spills
Regulator says the firm discharged untreated sewage on more than 4,000 occasions when its works were not at capacity; shareholders, not customers, will pay
One of England's largest water companies has been fined £120m, the biggest penalty in the industry's history, after the regulator found it had discharged untreated sewage into rivers thousands of times when its treatment works had spare capacity.
The ruling, published on Friday, found that the company had spilled on more than 4,000 occasions over three years in circumstances that its permits did not allow. Storm overflows are legal only when heavy rain would otherwise overwhelm the works.
The regulator said the fine would be paid by shareholders and could not be recovered through bills. The company said it would not appeal and had already begun a £1.2bn programme to upgrade its network.
Campaign groups welcomed the fine and said it was two decades late. “The rivers did not get worse last year,” said one. “The regulator got better at looking.”
Two further investigations into other companies are expected to conclude before Christmas.
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