Northumbrian Water will pay £550,000 toward environmental improvement projects after two separate sewage pollution incidents in northeast England, the Environment Agency said on
Friday.
The regulator accepted two legally binding Enforcement Undertakings offered by the utility following investigations into unauthorised sewage discharges from Sedgeletch sewage treatment works in Sunderland and Lanchester sewage treatment works in County Durham.
The funding will be directed to environmental charities for habitat restoration, fish migration improvements and pollution reduction projects.
Under the agreement, Northumbrian Water will pay £350,000 to Wear Rivers Trust after a sewage discharge from Sedgeletch sewage treatment works entered Moors Burn in September 2020. The incident affected around 5.5 kilometres of the watercourse and harmed aquatic life, although the Environment Agency said the impact could not be fully attributed to the company because two other pollution sources were located near the outfall. The funding will support habitat restoration at Old Durham Beck.
A further £200,000 will be paid to Durham Wildlife Trust following an unauthorised discharge from Lanchester sewage treatment works into Smallhope Burn in April 2021. An investigation found ammonia concentrations downstream exceeded the limits set by the site's environmental permit. The funding will support environmental improvement projects across the catchment.
In addition to the financial contributions, Northumbrian Water has completed remedial measures at both sites. These include changes to operational procedures and the installation of telemetry at Sedgeletch, as well as around £7 million of investment at the Lanchester facility. The company will also cover the Environment Agency's investigation costs.
The agreements come as the Environment Agency steps up enforcement against pollution by water companies. The regulator said water companies paid a record £8.5 million into environmental restoration projects over the past year, nearly double the amount secured the previous year.
"It’s unacceptable that water companies continue to pollute our watercourses. We expect compliance and we will take action where we see breaches," Rachael Caldwell, the Environment Agency's water industry regulation manager for the North East, said in a statement.
"We always consider enforcement options on a case-by-case basis, and these civil sanctions allow wrongdoings to be corrected while contributing to environmental improvements."
She said the £550,000 would be invested locally to deliver environmental benefits for communities and wildlife.
Enforcement Undertakings are civil sanctions under English environmental law that allow companies to avoid court proceedings by accepting legally binding commitments to remedy environmental harm, prevent repeat offences and fund restoration projects. The Environment Agency said it continues to prosecute cases involving serious environmental damage or high levels of culpability. Photo by Oliver Dixon, Wikimedia commons.
