Water firm fined £4m for chalk stream pollution

摘要

The discharges at the treatment works in Kingston, south-west London, flooded a recreation ground and polluted the Hogsmill river, a rare chalk stream, with 79 million litres of untreated sewage sludge. Appearing before Aylesbury crown court, the firm was fined £4m, with costs of £84,669 added to the tally. The fine was the third-largest penalty imposed in the UK for water pollution and the seventh for any environmental breach. Steve Spencer, Thames Water operations director, said the firm was sorry for "what happened at Hogsmill sewage works five years ago".