Thames Water sewage spill: 'Biggest ever fine'
- Published
Sewage spilled into nature reserves, the court heard.
Thames Water will face its "biggest ever fine" after pumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the River Thames, a judge has warned.
The company admitted water pollution and other offences at sewage facilities in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
One fisherman lost thousands and went out of business because the pollution killed his crayfish, Aylesbury Crown Court heard.
Fish and birds died following the spills in 2013 and 2014.
Nappies in river
Aylesbury Crown Court heard on Friday that the spills resulted in hundreds of dead fish, fewer dragon flies, overflowing manholes and sewage spilling into nature reserves.
Environmental damage was caused in the riverside towns of Henley and Marlow.
There were also reports of nappies and other sewage debris spilling into the Thames.
The four Thames Water Utilities Ltd sewage treatment works where the spills occurred were Aylesbury, Didcot, Henley and Little Marlow.
The other site is a large sewage pumping system in Littlemore in Oxford.
One of the spills came from the Henley sewage works