Wolverhampton based Global Metal Finishers Limited has been fined £55,000 for making illegal discharges into Severn Trent Water’s sewer network. The company has also been ordered to pay costs of nearly £9,000.
The case is the latest in a string of successful prosecutions by the utility, which has brought successful prosecutions against nine different firms in the Midlands in the last 12 months for making illegal discharges into the sewer network.
The case against Global Metal Finishers Limited was heard on Tuesday 8 July at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court, following a prosecution brought by Severn Trent 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 11 occasions between 11 January 2013 and 22 October 2013, Global Metal Finishers Limited of Moorfield Road, Wolverhampton breached legal limits for regulating the discharge of metals into the public sewer. The limits breached related to cyanide, chromium, copper, zinc and nickel.
Global Metal Finishers Limited has been prosecuted by Severn Trent on previous occasions in 2008 and 2011 for similar breaches.
Simon Cocks, waste water services director, commented:
“This is a significant fine for what the Court considered could be regarded as a “reckless” breach of the limits in place. We have prosecuted this firm on previous occasions, 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.”
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