Anglian Water fined £18k after sewage flooded river in Yaxley

The Environment Agency said sewage flooding a river for hours was due to Anglian Water's slow response

Anglian Water has been fined £18,000 after failures at a pumping station led to sewage flooding a river.

At least 60 fish died when raw sewage poured into Pig Water Drain in Yaxley, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in February 2019.

The Environment Agency said two sewage pumps failed a week apart and Anglian Water "should have acted quicker".

The company admitted breaching regulations at Peterborough Magistrates' Court.

It pleaded guilty to one count of breaching regulations 12 (1) (b) and 38 (1) (a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: "We take our responsibilities to the natural environment very seriously, and deeply regret the incident at one of our pumping stations in Yaxley in 2019."

A dog walker first reported the issue after seeing "fish leaping from the water like they'd been electrocuted or attacked", the Environment Agency said.

A dog-walker reported a creamy substance on the surface of the watercourse

The Environment Agency said one pump at the station in Windsor Road, Yaxley, stopped working on the day of the incident, and another had been out of action for almost a week.

Louis de Quincey, who led the Environment Agency investigation, said: "With only one sewage pump in operation, this was always likely to increase the chances of an incident.

"Anglian Water should have sped up its response time as a result.

"Six hours passed before a technician stopped sewage entering the water.

"Anglian Water could and should have acted quicker."

An Environment Agency officer called to the scene saw effluent gushing into the "grey and murky" water from a pipe traced back to the pumping station, supposed to control the flow of sewage through the sewer network, the agency said.

Roach, pike and eel were among 60 dead fish recovered from the scene, but fisheries specialists from the Environment Agency believe many more would have been killed by a sharp decline in water quality caused by the release of the effluent.

The spokeswoman for Anglian Water said an "intermittent signal failure on a flow sensor" meant one of the pumps did not work "as it should have done".

"We work hard to protect and enhance the environment and so it is particularly distressing when incidents like this occur," she said.

District Judge Ken Sheraton also ordered Anglian Water to pay £10,957.80 in costs to the Environment Agency and a victim surcharge of £170.