Water company fined after polluting stream

Yorkshire Water has been fined more than £700,000 for polluting a country park stream in Derbyshire with sewage three times in a year, the Environment Agency said.

The agency said fish and river insects were killed in one incident at Poolsbrook Country Park in Staveley and in another, water quality in the stream was affected for 700m (2,300ft).

In sentencing at Derby Crown Court on Monday, the company was fined £733,333 after pleading guilty to three pollution offences.

The water company apologised but said it had since relocated the two sewers involved at a cost of more than £2.5m.

The agency said the first pollution incident happened on 1 October 2018 when a rising main sewer pipe burst because of severe corrosion, causing untreated sewage to spill into the stream, which runs into the River Doe Lea.

Fish including tench, pike and roach were killed as more than 600m (1,968ft) of the watercourse was affected.

On 27 February 2019 a blockage of wet wipes caused a leak affecting the water quality in a 700m stretch, but there was no evidence of fish being harmed.

The agency said a third incident on 7 August 2019, was caused by a failure of a joint coupling in the same plastic foul sewer pipe but in a different location.

This damaged the water quality in 600m of the stream but again there was no evidence fish were affected.

Environment Agency chairman Alan Lovell said: "Polluting the same stream three times in less than a year is unacceptable and we're pleased Yorkshire Water has now been dealt with by the courts following our investigation.

"We expect full compliance and are committed to taking robust enforcement action where we see serious breaches."

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds added the "repeated pollution" was "appalling" and the fine issued sent sent a "strong message".

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "No pollution incident is ever acceptable.

"We want to apologise for the impact the incidents at Poolsbrook had in 2018 and 2019 which were the result of an inadequate external protective coating being applied to one of the sewers and wet wipes building up and causing blockages in the other sewer."

The firm said it was investing £8.3bn before 2030 "to improve service levels and reduce any negative impact on the environment".

Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.