£1.6m fine for Anglian Water's pollution of Essex river

District judge Timothy King heard that Anglian Water’s local mismanagement led to a general decline in water quality between April and June 2022.

In addition, the company ignored alarms telling them that poorly-treated sewage was being discharged into the river due to the faulty valve. Staff didn’t talk to each other about the incidents.

The resulting pollution stretched for nearly 14km along the Brain between Braintree and Witham.

The problem was picked up by Environment Agency monitors showing levels of toxic ammonia that were the highest recorded in the river over the previous ten years.

An Environment Agency investigation traced the source to Anglian Water’s water recycling centre in Braintree. A faulty valve, broken for a week before the first incident in April 2022, led to a semi-solid sludge, usually removed from sewage by water companies, being released into the river.

Further discharges in late May, similar to the first one, led investigators to track the poisonous substance as it snaked along the river.

Marcus Sibley, water industry regulatory manager for the Environment Agency in East Anglia, said:

We have significantly ramped up our scrutiny of the water industry, and will take enforcement action where we find performance doesn’t meet the standards that communities deserve.

These pollution incidents were the result of organisational failure by Anglian Water to recognise risk and act on the warning signs, resulting and resulted in them operating outside the law. They caused a significant impact on the quality of River Brain.

Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said:

Anglian Water have clearly been too slow to act in this case and the environment has paid the price. They should, and must, do better to stop pollution before it happens.

The government is overhauling the water system to give the public control. Tougher regulation, stronger enforcement and greater accountability, so water companies deliver for customers and the environment.