The water company was prosecuted by the Environment Agency after it was found to have allowed more ammonia than is permitted to be discharged from its Bishops Castle sewage treatment works. Sewage treatment works must meet the discharge limits for harmful substances in their environmental permits at least 95 per cent of the time in order to maintain the quality of the watercourse into which they discharge.
The EA took 12 samples at the treatment works over a year and three
of those samples were above the set ammonia limit meaning that a quarter of the samples failed to meet the standard required by the permit.
The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £3,878 in costs,
along with a £15 victim surcharge. In mitigation, Severn Trent Water
apologised for the breach of its permit and admitted that there had been
management failings at the works.
Speaking after the case an Environment Agency officer in charge of
the investigation said: “We take cases of pollution to watercourses very
seriously due to the environmental damage that can be caused. In this
case, Severn Trent Water fell short of their responsibilities to
properly manage and maintain their sewage treatment works which led to higher levels of ammonia being discharged to the watercourse.”