Thames Water fined £3.3m for 'reckless' sewage dump

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Company allowed millions of litres of effluent to be pumped into rivers near Gatwick Airport

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Published by

05 Jul 2023

Thames Water has been handed a £3.3m fine for a “reckless” incident in which millions of litres of undiluted sewage were pumped into rivers near Gatwick Airport in 2017.

A two-day sentencing hearing at Lewes Crown Court was told there was a “significant and lengthy” period of polluting the Gatwick Stream and River Mole between Crawley in West Sussex and Horley in Surrey on October 11 2017.

Judge Christine Laing KC said on Tuesday that she believed Thames Water had shown a deliberate attempt to mislead the Environment Agency over the incident, such as by omitting water readings and submitting a report to the regulator denying responsibility.

Thames Water had pleaded guilty on February 28 to four charges relating to illegally discharging waste in October 2017, but had denied seeking to mislead the Environment Agency in the events, instead arguing that “significant errors were made”.

The court heard that a storm pump unexpectedly activated and was