SOUTH West Water was last week fined £7,000 for discharging sewage into the River Exe at General's Lane pumping station, Starcross, in April last year.
Magistrates at Totnes were going to fine the company £10,000, but, because of a guilty plea, reduced the final figure.
The Environment Agency took the water company to court for negligence, claiming that no proper action was taken when the discharge occurred. In October 2004, KSB, a contractor working for SWW, found that one of two pumps used in sewage flow at General's Lane – the station covers 1,500 people – had been burnt out. Initially, this was not seen as a problem as pump two could be used while new bespoke parts for the broken motor were sourced.
However, six months later it still had not been fixed and on April 25, 2005, pump two became blocked. This meant that sewage in a 'wet tank' started to overflow into the river. At 7.13pm and 7.39pm warning alarms were sounded at SWW, but due to their low priority, they were not deemed urgent.
On April 26, 2005, a contractor attended the pump house and removed the blockage, but not before sewage had been flowing into the river for up to 15 hours. Had pump one been fixed, then this could have been avoided, the court heard. Representing the agency, Simon Rundle said: 'No one is allowed to discharge sewage into controlled waters unless consent is given in emergency circumstances such as a power cut.'
He said that the day after the discharge, nearby shellfish were tested for contaminants and showed a slight increase. 'I can't say it was the pollution from the station that caused this,' said Mr Rundle.
'But it is interesting. I am not alleging it affected them, but the potential to do so was there.' He also labelled the time it took to get the broken pump fixed as 'unacceptable', and that SWW should have been 'more proactive'. Mitigating, Tom Bradnock said: 'By pleading guilty we accept liability and apologise for the problems caused. We accept discharge did occur, but it was not constant and this was not a long, medium or short-term problem. 'The sewage itself had already been screened and was only half the usual strength. 'There was also a one-in-five-year storm on April 23, 2005, which is probably why the shellfish showed an increase in contaminants. What happened was a one-off discharge.' He said that a new inverter for pump one was bespoke and when a new part arrived in December 2004, it did not fit. Another was ordered.
Due to 'substandard performance' at several SWW facilities, including General's Lane, KSB's contract was terminated in January this year. Mr Bradnock continued: 'The site is now visited frequently, every other day, and pump one has been fixed. If there are any problems in the future, they will be quickly addressed.'
Sentencing SWW, Sue Nock, chairman of the bench, said: 'The inverter broke six months prior to the discharge and the potential for harm was great. You seem to have been negligent and we feel a fine of £10,000 is appropriate. 'However, we will reduce the fine to £7,000 due to your guilty plea and co-operation in the investigation.' SWW was also ordered to pay £1,050 costs.