Birmingham based H and P Polishing UK Limited has been fined £6,000 for making illegal discharges into Severn Trent Water’s sewer network. The company has also been ordered to pay costs of nearly £4,000.
The case is the latest in a string of successful prosecutions by the water company. In the last 12 months, Severn Trent has brought successful prosecutions against many different firms in the Midlands for making illegal discharges into the sewer network.
The case against H and P Polishing UK Limited was heard on Thursday 4 December at Birmingham Magistrates Court, following a prosecution brought by the water company for a breach of the Water Industry Act 1991. It is a criminal offence under section 121 of the Act to discharge trade effluent into a public sewer in breach of legal limits regulating what it can contain.
On 23 January 2014, H and P Polishing UK Limited of Tyburn Road, Birmingham breached legal limits for regulating the discharge of metals into the public sewer. The limits breached related to chromium and nickel.
Simon Cocks, managing director of wholesale operations, commented:
“This is a significant fine for what the Court considered could be regarded as a “reckless” and “negligent” breach of the limits in place. We have prosecuted a lot of firms in recent months, and we hope that the verdict in this case will make other companies think about what they are doing with regards to discharges to the sewer system. Our customers pay for damage to the sewer network and the treatment works, so it’s important that we prosecute offenders in appropriate cases and take action to recover costs where possible.
“The limits we set to regulate trade discharges are calculated to ensure they don’t adversely affect the capacity of our sewage works to efficiently treat sewage, so exceeding these consents is not only illegal, it can also damage the sewage treatment process and so risk causing harm to the environment.”
He added: “Rather than having to take action in court, we would prefer to work together with businesses to prevent any breaches occurring in the first place.”
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