Southern Water fined £7.1m for illegal pollution incidents that shut down Thanet beaches and bays

Southern Water has been fined £7.1m after repeated illegal sewage pollution incidents forced the closure of beaches in Thanet.

Sentencing Southern Water at Canterbury Crown Court today (July 17), Mr Justice Johnson KC heard how preventable equipment failures and poor operational oversight led to repeated discharges of untreated sewage between 2019 and 2021, some at the height of summer.

The prosecution comes almost exactly five years after Southern Water received a record £90 million fine for nearly 7,000 illegal sewage discharges.

Across five major pollution incidents, Southern Water repeatedly failed to maintain critical pumping equipment, delayed reporting pollution to regulators and allowed untreated sewage to enter coastal waters.

In June 2019, an Environment Agency investigation found that around 10m litres of sewage was discharged in Thanet for almost 24 hours. It could have been prevented but staff showed a lack of system knowledge.

Southern Water is legally obliged to report pollution to the Environment Agency as soon as possible, but they failed to do so until the next day. It meant Thanet District Council couldn’t warn people against getting into the water.

Little over a year later, around the August bank holiday in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, there was another illegal discharge.

A failed pump at Margate pumping station was out of order for weeks, leading to the release of sewage into the sea. A second pump then failed. At least 16m litres of sewage were released into the sea across two days. As before, the Environment Agency was only told by Southern Water about the pollution a day later.

On that same August day six years ago, untreated wastewater and human waste was also discharged into seawater from a pumping station at Broadstairs, in the region of 1.6m to 3.2m litres, for more than two hours.

Southern Water only told the Environment Agency weeks later. Their failure to report it sooner meant Thanet District Council was again unable to warn the public.

Lindsay Faulkner, environment manager for the Environment Agency in Kent, said: “Southern Water allowed this repeated pollution to happen. Stronger oversight by the company is needed, and plain to see from their track record.

“These preventable incidents harmed the environment and local communities, but like so much pollution caused by water companies, they were avoidable and should never have happened.

“The Environment Agency demands much more from Southern Water. Our inspections of sewage treatment sites, including pumping stations at fault in this case, will continue. We are holding them to account.”

In February 2021, there was another pumping station fault, more pollution. A computer broke down at Broadstairs, as did a back-up. This time, the Environment Agency was told about sewage and debris off the coast, and both they and the council gave advice to swimmers to stay away from a 5km-stretch of Kent coastline for 24 hours.

The Environment Agency told the court Southern Water should have picked up the fault earlier as a fairly basic diagnosis.

Possibly the most damaging of the five main incidents leading the Environment Agency’s case, as far as the impact on beaches and bathing waters, came in June the following summer. Again, there were simultaneous failures at Margate and Broadstairs pumping stations, when after lockdown everyone was desperate to get outdoors.

Thanet District Council had to close 11 beaches and bays. Advice to keep out of the sea for a week at the height of summer was also posted on Swimfo, the Environment Agency’s online guide to bathing water quality.

Equipment breakdown sent more sewage and debris into the sea for hours. A poorly-maintained circuit board caused the power supply to stop, causing a domino effect for the rest of the plant.

In October 2021, and more badly-managed equipment caused a power shutdown at the Broadstairs plant, with more untreated sewage and sanitary towels pumped into the sea. In all, 10 beaches were closed by the council.

Southern Water also admitted to another 35 illegal discharges also between 2019 and 2021, and that a pump used to move sewage around its network was out of action for more than a year.

They were fined £7,127,083, with costs to the Environment Agency of £149,000, and a victim surcharge of £181.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined £90m for 6,971 illegal sewage discharges off Hampshire, Kent and Sussex. Three years later, there was a  penalty was £330,000 for pollution in a lake near Southampton.

The Environment Agency is also prosecuting Southern Water for other pollution incidents in Kent between 2019 and 2021, including at Faversham and Whitstable, and in Hampshire in 2023, with sentencing to follow later this year.

However, district and county councillor Rob Yates, who has contributed to EA investigations into sewage releases, said: “The fines that Southern Water pay comes out of our pocket. It should go into a fund to take this failed company back into public control.

“Last year they lost the court case relating to the June 2021 sewage release that closed 11 Thanet beaches for over a week. Part of the court case was my FOI into this incident which proved using Southern Water information that they failed to pump sewage at appropriate speeds.

“Five years later and we still have regular water issues and they have only just been fined, it is now time for ministers to put people before profit and take back control of our water.”

A Southern Water spokesperson said: “We’re deeply sorry for the incidents in Kent which led to today’s fine. Pollution incidents like these are unacceptable, and we fully recognise the impact they can have on the environment and the communities we serve.

“These events took place more than 5 years ago – since then we’ve made significant changes. Under a new leadership team, backed by new shareholders, we’ve radically addressed our culture, governance and operations.

“The actions we took at Margate and Broadstairs after an internal review of the incidents and its various causes included implementing 24/7 operational cover, taking steps to make the sites less vulnerable to power outages, additional resilience testing, enhanced monitoring and conducting relevant repairs.

“Between 2020-2025, we invested more than £28 million on the wastewater and sewer network across Thanet to fund these improvements and more – and our performance in these locations has since improved.

“Our responsibility now is to continue delivering the improvements that will make a meaningful difference for our customers and the environment.”

Southern Water says that between 2020-2025, more than £28 million has been invested in the Thanet network on wastewater sites and the sewer network, with key site-specific works targeted at factors that contributed to the charges the firm has been sentenced for.

This included an £8 million power and resilience programme at Margate and Broadstairs including improvements to screening protections and enhanced storm flow handling;

Pollution in numbers

Margate and Broadstairs pumping stations, where the pollution in this current prosecution began, serve 93,298 people.

In pollution over 2 days in June 2019, 10m litres of sewage was poured into the sea at Margate for almost 24 hours.

It took Southern Water 1 day to report the incident to the Environment Agency, meaning no immediate warning could be given to the public to stay out of polluted waters. The matter should have been reported much quicker.

During the August bank holiday week in 2020, 2 pumps at Margate failed, sending at least 16m litres of effluent into the sea across 2 days.

Remarkably, on the day, between 1.6m and 3.2m litres of wastewater and human waste was also released into sea after problems at Broadstairs pumping station.

In February 2021, a computer broke down, leading to sewage and debris found off the coast. Some 4 beaches along a 5km stretch of Thanet coastline were closed – the advice from Thanet District Council was stay out of the water for 24 hours.

More equipment failure and pollution in June 2021. The council was forced to put 11 beaches off limits – in the height of summer.

Later that year, in October, first, 4, then 6 beaches were closed for 10 days after a power failure at Broadstairs saw sewage and sanitary towels drop into the sea.

Mr Justice Johnson also considered 35 other illegal discharges by Southern Water in the area between 2019 and 2021.

It’s 5 years to the week since Southern Water was fined £90m for almost 7,000 illegal sewage discharges of Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.