In late 2021, we began to hear public concern in the region about sewage pollution, in rivers and on beaches. We published our first story then, and have followed it up from a variety of angles, notably the gap between Anglian Water’s public statements and the evidence on the ground, some of it provided by citizen scientists. This is one of the most recent of over 100 stories which touched on the issue, and were viewed in total over 15,000 times.
Due to a series of failures at Jaywick Water Recycling Centre in Essex, 7.5 million litres of sewage were poured into the North Sea in the summer of 2018. Anglian Water (AW) pleaded guilty to the illegal discharge and was ordered to pay a fine of £2.65 million at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on 27 April this year.
Not another one
In common with another recent Essex case, reported in EAB, this was an avoidable accident worsened by equipment failure, which led to untreated effluent flowing into the sea.
AW operatives had decommissioned a critical piece of monitoring equipment, and had no alarm system to tell it how often the discharges were happening. Environment Agency (EA) officers noted the problems during a routine inspection. The agency observed what AW staff, present full-time on site, should have noticed long before the EA visit.
A hardening of attitudes?
This case is notable for several reasons:
- It is the largest fine ever imposed for environmental offences in eastern region.
- Water Minister, Rebecca Pow, said that water companies should not profit from environmental damage: “Fines will rightly be paid solely from the company’s operating profits and not passed on to customer bills.”
- Pow added, “Going forward all fines will be paid into our Water Restoration Fund to support projects that will help improve our natural environment and our water quality.” This follows a 2022 decision. Previously, fines totalling £141 million since 2015 levied on water companies were returned to the Treasury. From now on, funds are to be invested directly back into water quality improvement projects.
Anglian Water “in court so frequently”
The company pleaded guilty to a count of illegal discharge contravening environmental permit conditions and a further count of “breaching environmental permit conditions for storm discharge permissions.” An AW spokeswoman apologised and said, “one spill is one too many”.
District Judge Timothy King said that “Anglian Water finds itself in court so frequently” that this must be reflected in the size of the penalty. He believed there was “a clear pattern of the company not responding adequately” to previous fines.
The size of the fine won’t seriously worry AW, who paid dividends to shareholders last year to the tune of £91.8 million. £2.6 million will barely leave a dent.
Losing patience
One of AW’s remuneration principles, upon which annual directors’ bonuses are based, is “a flourishing environment”. In 2018/19 Anglian Water CEO, Peter Simpson, earned nearly £2 million, including an annual bonus of £533,729. It’s difficult to see why bonuses are paid to water company bosses when the environment is harmed. In 2018 there were 56 serious pollution incidents across England.
Campaigners at WeOwnIt question the profits being made by companies who damage the environment: “The shareholders receive £1.6 billion a year on average – that money could be invested in water infrastructure to stop sewage.”
Protests against sewage discharges are increasing: this is an issue that angers voters from across the political spectrum. The government, realising this, is bolstering the Environment Agency’s armoury. Will this intensify how seriously water companies take the issue? The Jaywick incident took place in August 2018, so it has taken nearly five years to bring to court. Measures to protect the environment are needed much more quickly than that.
