Pump failure results in £10,000 court fine

摘要

United Utilities has been fined £10,000 for discharging sewage into a brook in Abram, Greater Manchester. The firm has also been ordered to pay costs of almost £3,000. Britain's largest listed water company pleaded guilty to causing sewage effluent to be discharged into controlled waters in September 2007. The pollution was due to a pump failure at a pumping station near Wigan. The court heard that the Environment Agency was contacted by a member of the public when Hey Brook turned grey and was teeming with dead and dying fish. There was also a smell of sewage.