Yorkshire Water fined £233,000 after sewage leak led to the deaths of hundreds of fish in Tong Beck
Approximately 20 million litres of sewage is thought to have been pumped into Tong Beck near Bradford over four days in November 2017
Last updated 29th Jan 2022
Yorkshire Water has been fined £233,000 and ordered to pay £18,766.06 costs and £170 Victim Surcharge after it admitted to being responsible for a sewage leak that led to the deaths of hundreds of fish in Tong Beck, near Bradford.
Approximately 20 million litres of sewage is thought to have been pumped into Tong Beck near Bradford over four days in November 2017, the pollution led to serious ecological damage and killed hundreds of fish.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said:
“All businesses, including water companies have a responsibility to ensure their activities do not present a risk of harm to people and the environment. Yorkshire Water’s failure to adequately safeguard its systems has led to significant damage to the ecology of Tong Beck, which may take many years to recover. We welcome the ruling by Magistrates in Leeds today and hope that this sends a strong message to others that the Environment Agency will hold polluters to account.”
In mitigation, Yorkshire Water expressed remorse. They said they acted quickly once they became aware of the discharge. They commissioned their own sampling and analysis, monitored the watercourse over the following days, undertook a full clean-up of the site and immediate area and undertook repairs to ensure the pumping station was brought quickly back into operation.
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said:
"In November 2017 we had an issue at our Dale Road pumping station that resulted in wastewater being discharged into the nearby beck. As soon as we found the discharge, we mobilised a number of teams who arrived within minutes to stop the wastewater entering the beck and mitigate the impact on the local environment. Due to the mitigation we put in place, the ecological impact was short term.
"Our investigations showed that this was unfortunately down to human error and we’ve taken all the learnings on board to try make sure this doesn’t happen again. We’re sorry this incident occurred and we’ve since invested £1.7m at the pumping station to further improve its performance."