Southern Water was fined a total of £65,000 and additional costs of £44,620.99 were awarded at a sentencing hearing in Newport Crown Court last Friday.
On 27 July 2018, Southern Water pleaded guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption from Cooks Castle service reservoir between 31 January and 12 February 2013.
The charges were brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate and in response, Marcus Rink, Chief Inspector of Drinking Water said:
‘Following a lengthy investigation which commenced in 2016, a previously undisclosed and significant water quality incident from 2013 was uncovered where there was a failure to protect consumers. Flagrant disregard for regulatory duties and consumer protection will always result in action by the Inspectorate in the public interest’.
Southern Water admitted the offence of supplying water unfit for human consumption to premises served by Cooks Castle Shanklin Water Supply Reservoir. At the time of the offence, the treated water reservoir supplied approximately 17,743 consumers.
The site was known to be vulnerable to subsidence and the event occurred as a result of exploratory investigations into ground conditions around the reservoir involving on-site drilling. The outlet main was ruptured by the drilling rig on 23 January 2013 allowing soil and debris to enter the network.
Deficiencies in Southern Water’s investigation into, and handling of the event that meant the location of the leak was not initially identified until 1 March 2013.
In a statement on the sentence, Southern Water said:
“We apologise unreservedly for the incident that affected water for customers and consumers in the Ventnor and surrounding area in 2013. We fully accept the court's judgement.”
“It is never acceptable to provide water that does not meet the highest standards and this is why we pleaded guilty.”
The water company said that over the past 2 years a new management team has been put in place and procedures have been updated to ensure this type of incident will not result in a lowering of water quality for customers in the future.
We take our environmental and public health responsibilities extremely seriously and will be working with our regulators to ensure we are fully compliant.
As part of root-and-branch changes to how the utility operates, Dr Alison Hoyle was appointed in April 2017 to lead a compliance and asset resilience team. Dr Guy Franklin, a former DWI inspector, was also appointed last year as head of water quality and compliance.
A new team of public health advisors charged with improving and auditing water quality and hygiene processes has also been put in place.
Aside from direct investment in compliance and resilience, Southern Water said it has also instituted a new way of working with regulators - 'Water First' emphasises a collaborative approach.
In his summing up at the sentencing hearing , Judge Hetherington said:
“It is clear this is a very different company now."
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