South West Water fined £7,867,733 over sewage discharges in Devon, Cornwall

PLYMOUTH, England, Sept 29 — South West Water (SWW) was fined £7,867,733 at Plymouth Magistrates' Court on Sept 29 for environmental offences across Devon and Cornwall, the largest fine ever imposed for environmental offences in the region, the Environment Agency said.

The company had pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to 18 charges brought by the Environment Agency: 17 for illegal water discharge activities and one for failing to take reasonable remedial measures after a failure at a pumping station, according to the agency.

The offences took place between January 2015 and July 2021 in Bodmin, Harlyn, Playing Place, Polperro and Plymouth. District Judge Matson repeatedly found that the company's conduct amounted to reckless failures in management systems and in its response to known risks, the agency said.

According to the agency, untreated sewage was discharged onto Harlyn beach on 231 occasions between January 2016 and July 2021. SWW was fined £1.1 million for a single incident at Polperro Harbour on Aug 24, 2019, and the agency said the company took 10 hours to attend that incident even though alarms had gone off.

"I find the fact that such a large amount of spills were not picked up on by South West Water to be significant and incredibly concerning," Matson said of the company's sewage works near Bodmin, where there were 336 illegal spills in the seven years to March 2020.

The judge also found that SWW had tried to minimise its role in the offending, the agency said.

The company was also ordered to pay £329,993 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge. It has 56 days to pay all penalties in full.

SWW previously pleaded guilty to six criminal charges relating to spills at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station. The court will consider these at a later date that has not yet been set.