SOUTHERN WATER FINED £7M FOR ILLEGAL SEWAGE DUMPING OFF KENT COAST

Southern Water was fined £7,127,083 at Canterbury Crown Court following illegal sewage discharges off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021. The company pleaded guilty to 13 offences at Medway Magistrates' Court in April, relating to sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations. Mr Justice Johnson imposed the fine across a two-day sentencing hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday and Friday.

Nine counts related to untreated sewage dumped into coastal waters, whilst three counts concerned the company's failure to notify authorities of the discharges within 24 hours as required by its environmental permit. A further conviction concerned Southern Water's failure to maintain a standby pump at Margate's station between July 2019 and October 2020. During the hearing, the court heard that some of the sewage pumped into the waters was unscreened, meaning it contained solid waste. The company's conduct was described as forming "a pattern of repeated incidents over several years" that caused harm to local wildlife and tourism.

This fine follows a separate 2021 case brought by the Environment Agency, in which Southern Water was fined £90 million for nearly 7,000 incidents across Hampshire, Kent and Sussex. The latest conviction demonstrates continued legal action against the water supplier regarding sewage management failures in its operational area.