Anglian Water has been fined a total of £563,609.21 after a treatment plant failure let millions of litres of sewage into a river killing invertebrate and fish across three kilometres.

An Environment Agency investigation found failures from the water company in planning, managing, and monitoring at the Doddinghurst Water Recycling Centre, near Brentwood, Essex.

This led to more than 3.9 million litres of harmful sewage discharged into the Doddinghurst Brook unchecked for two-and-half days. This damaged the river's ecosystem as well as killing a number of a protected species: the Bullhead.

Anglian Water was ordered to pay a fine of £536,000, costs of £27,439.21 and a victim surcharge of £170 at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court (Nov 24).

The District Judge Sam Goozee described Anglian Water's record as 'lamentable'.

The court heard how a fault in an aeration process at the Wyatts Green site in 2018 meant sewage discharged into the tributary of the River Wid.

This was compounded by the lack of an early alarm system which would usually alert staff of any issues. This could have been avoided, the court heard, if software, costing £205, had been fitted to the system retrospectively when a fault occurred on the same part of the process earlier in the year.

The recycling centre, eight miles south of Chelmsford, is responsible for treating sewage from around 6,600 local people. It discharges treated sewage into the upper Wid, also known as Doddinghurst Brook.

"We welcome this sentence. Serious pollution is a serious crime.

"The Environment Agency will pursue any water company that fails to uphold the law or protect nature, and will continue to press for the strongest possible penalties for those which do not."

Environment Officer at the Environment Agency, Gavin Senior, added:

"The fine handed to Anglian Water shows polluters are made to pay for damaging the environment. The invertebrate and fish population in this area, including a protected species, suffered significantly because of this sewage pollution and it took time for the local ecosystem to recover.

"The public demand tough action when it comes to water quality and we are delivering. Anyone caught breaching environmental laws faces enforcement action, up to and including prosecution.

"We will always ensure the courts have all the information they need to impose appropriate sentences."

This incident happened between late September and early October 2018. A fault in the aeration process on 28 September led to sewage discharging into the river.

The malfunction was not spotted until 1 October 2018 when an operative from Anglian Water, who was visiting the site, saw the aerators were not working.

As a result, around four kilometres of the River Wid experienced high levels of ammonia for six days after the failure.

Members of the public with concerns about pollution should contact our 24-hour incident hotline on: 0800 80 70 60.