THAMES Water has been slapped with a £2.3 million fine after sewage poured into stream killing more than 1,000 fish. The water company was brought before the courts over the foreseeable pollution from a sewage-treatment plant in Henley. The court heard sewage with high levels of ammonia was released into Fawley Court Ditch in 2016, killing 1,144 fish and other water life. The Environment Agency found poor management at the Thames Water plant meant there was no adequate monitoring in place to manage the risk of pollution. It was also made worse by staff not responding to alarms signalling faults in the process, the court heard.
Water firm fined £2.3m for ‘preventable’ sewage spill );
);
THAMES Water has been fined £2.3million for a pollution incident in Henley that resulted in the death of 1,200 fish.
Raw sewage leaked into the Fawley Court ditch and stream that flows into the River Thames over four days in April 2016.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard that the incident was “entirely foreseeable” but the company had failed to address equipment faults at the Henley water treatment works due to poor management.
There was no adequate monitoring in place to manage the risk of pollution, which was made worse by staff not responding to alarms highlighting faults in the process.
Thames Water has been fined £2.3 million after a stream was polluted by sewage.
A court heard failure to address equipment faults at a sewage-treatment plant in Oxfordshire made the incident “entirely foreseeable”.
Sewage with high levels of ammonia was released into Fawley Court Ditch at Henley-on-Thames in 2016, killing 1,144 fish and other water life.
Poor management at the plant was laid bare at Aylesbury Crown Court. Thames Water’s treatment works at Henley had no adequate monitoring in place to manage the risk of pollution, made worse by staff not responding 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.
Thames Water fined £2 3m for Henley fish-death pollution bbc.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bbc.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.