Anglian Water fined £300,000 for sewage leak in Shenfield in Essex which killed 5,000 fish

A water company that allowed untreated sewage to flow into a river - killing more than 5,000 fish - has been fined £300,000.

Environment Agency officers found high levels of ammonia in the cloudy, polluted water of the River Wid in Essex in June 2016.

They had been called to the Shenfield and Hutton Water Recycling Centre, run by Anglian Water, following a fire at the treatment works.

The blaze had caused all three pumps in one of the stations to fail, meaning there was no way to pump the sewage and it instead flowed untreated out of an emergency overflow.

Officers initially attended the treatment works and followed the sewage into the river where they tested the water.

In the following days, they returned to find dead fish and invertebrates at various points along the waterway.

Around 10km of the River Wid experienced high levels of ammonia for three days. In total, at least 5,431 fish were killed with invertebrates affected in almost 5km of the river.

Further investigations found the pumps being used by Anglian Water were almost 40 years old.

Repairs were carried out to the equipment following the incident.

The court found that while Anglian Water was on notice about the need for refurbishment, the fire was an unusual event. The chances of them being able to foresee a fire causing all three pumps to fail were low, it said.

The water company pleaded guilty to causing unpermitted pollution damage during a hearing in September 2021 and appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court this month to be sentenced.