Hundreds of fish died in April 2011 when a blockage in the foul sewer was not cleared for more than a week because of an IT and scheduling errors Lincoln Magistrates’ Court heard earlier this week.
Mrs Claire Corfield, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said sewage and trade effluent had polluted a stream that passes through Heapham Lakes, owned by West Lindsey District Council as part of a flood protection scheme. The pollution continued into the River Till and more than three miles of water had been affected. The company was also ordered to pay full costs of £6,884.
Severn Trent was alerted by the council to sewage flooding at Theaker Avenue Nature Reserve on 29 March. On 8 April the Environment Agency was contacted by the council’s angling club which reported dead fish in the lakes. A sample taken from the lake showed grossly polluting levels of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) 172 times higher than would be expected in unpolluted water and gasping fish had to be rescued.
On 8 April, 360 dead fish were counted floating on the surface including carp, bream, tench and pike. Heapham Lakes is used by anglers but, the court was told, it was the third time that sewage pollution caused by the water company had stopped fishing there.
In April 2004, 7,000 fish were killed and four months later, fish used to restock were also killed by pollution. Three years later there was a further pollution.
A service delivery manager for Severn Trent told investigating officers that just before the incident they had moved to a new method of working which led to jobs being moved to an error queue and the incident not being attended to for two days. Since the pollution the company has made changes and had spent £84,000 on investigating the incident and remediation. The company also said it would pay for the restocking of the lake.
After the hearing Environment Agency officer Sarah Gillanders said:
“An extensive clean-up operation was needed after this pollution and fish had to be rescued from the lake and moved to safety. Had Severn Trent responded sooner, the serious effect of the pollution could have been minimized.”
