Yorkshire Water has donated £200,000 to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust through an enforcement undertaking (EU) following a pollution incident near Doncaster.
The donation was secured by the Environment Agency after sewage entered the Pissy Beds Drain, a tributary of the River Trent, in September 2015.
On 22 September 2015 the Environment Agency said it received a report of a burst at a main surface water sewer.
Further investigations showed that a transfer of foul sewage between pumping stations led to raw sewage entering the Pissy Beds Drain near Hatfield Colliery.
Elevated ammonia and low dissolved oxygen levels were detected due to sewage entering the watercourse – this had the potential to harm fish and invertebrates living in the water.
The response by both the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water meant that the pollution was contained while the burst was located, stopped and fixed which prevented further harm.
In total Yorkshire Water spent £235,000 on cleaning the watercourse and repairing the rising main which burst, it also paid the Environment Agency’s costs in full.
Following the incident Yorkshire Water has carried out an “end to end review” of its telemetry system to ensure early warnings are received and acted on. Additional alarms have been put in place and staff have been briefed on the learning from the incident.
Louise Cresswell, East Midlands area director at the Environment Agency, said: “Enforcement undertakings allow polluters to restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents.
“They offer a quick resolution and help offenders who are prepared to take responsibility for their actions to voluntarily make things right. We will continue to seek prosecutions against those who cause severe pollution or who act recklessly.”
Yorkshire Water declined to comment.
In January this year, the Environment Agency revealed that Thames Water would donate £80,000 to the South East Rivers Trust to help make amends for a pollution incident in 2013.
The water company apologised for allowing sewage to escape from a blocked sewer in Chislehurst in 2013.