Proactive Investors - Severn Trent PLC (LON:SVT) has been whacked with over £2 million in fines after spilling sewage into the River Trent near Stoke.
Some 240 litres of raw sewage flowed into the river between November 2019 and February 2020, after two of Severn Trent's three screw pumps nearby failed.
“Contingency plans were woefully inadequate,” Environment Agency senior officer Adam Shipp said.
“Even though Severn Trent knew Storm Clara and Storm Dennis were about to arrive, they did not think to proactively source alternative pumps and get them to site.
“This is not the sort of response we would expect to see from a professional multinational company.”
Two separate fines of £1 million were dealt by district judge Kevin Grego on Monday as a result, with costs of £16,476 and a victim’s surcharge of £181 also having to be paid.
Severn Trent had pleaded guilty to two charges of illegally discharging raw sewage, with onsite measures now having been put in place to prevent a similar incident.
The news comes after Severn Trent reported last week that it had not suffered at the hands of a recent influx of storms.
Though the UK faced the third wettest end to a year on record, Severn Trent said it would still receive awards for meeting operational targets as expected, with no pollution incidents having been reported over the year so far.