An investigation by the Environment Agency into Severn Trent Water revealed that raw sewage from a blocked sewer had been discharged into a brook near Gloucester, impacting about 1.7km of the watercourse.
The case has ended in the water company agreeing an enforcement undertaking with the Environment Agency and giving Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust £327,500.
An EU is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals and can be accepted where the Environment Agency has reason to believe an offence has been committed.
It usually includes a payment to an environmental charity to carry out improvements. The Environment Agency received reports of dead fish on 19 August 2021 at School Lane, Quedgeley, near Gloucester.
An inspection revealed hundreds of dead sticklebacks and thousands of dead invertebrates plus several eels and a number of bullhead fish.
The officer also observed what he believed to be sewage fungus growing in the watercourse for about one kilometre up to Meerbrook Way. The smell of sewage was strong and the fungus was covering the entire width of the brook.
Further investigations revealed that where the brook exited the A38 at Meerbrook Way, the officer saw what he believed to be a discharge of crude sewage coming out of the bankside into the brook.
An ecological impact assessment concluded that 1.7km of Dimore Brook had been affected and that the sewage discharge had killed the vast majority of aquatic animal life.
Between Fisher’s Bridge and the Gloucester-Sharpness Canal, approximately 50 dead European eel, 20 bullhead, three chub and 400 three-spined sticklebacks were observed. Environment Agency officers said that Severn Trent had responded to the incident in a timely manner.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is using the funds in a three-year programme to improve various projects close to the impacted area.
Ian Skuse, the investigating officer for the West Midlands Environment Agency, said, “Protecting the environment in the West Midlands and taking action against those that damage or threaten this is our utmost priority.
“While we will always take forward prosecutions in the most serious cases, Enforcement Undertakings are an effective enforcement tool to allow companies to put things right and contribute to environmental improvements.
“They allow polluters to correct and restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents by improving their procedures, helping ensure future compliance with environmental requirements.”
An Enforcement Undertaking is available to the Environment Agency (EA) as an alternative sanction to prosecution or monetary penalty for dealing with certain environmental offences.
It is a legally binding voluntary agreement proposed by a business (or an individual) when the EA has reasonable grounds to suspect that an environmental offence has occurred.
Enforcement Undertakings for environmental offences were first introduced under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 and the Environmental Civil Sanctions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010 but have since been made available for other environmental offences, including under the Environmental Permitting Regulations.
Accepting an Enforcement Undertaking is always at the discretion of the EA. But if accepted helps firms and individuals who have damaged the environment or operated outside of legislative requirements to complete actions which will address the cause and effect of their offending, including making a payment to an appropriate project.
EUs can be offered for offences including polluting rivers, breaching permit conditions designed to protect communities, or failing to register and comply with recycling/recovery obligations. The Environment Agency then carefully considers whether the actions offered by the offender are acceptable.
