Southern Water has been fined over £7 million by Canterbury Crown Court for unlawfully discharging sewage into the sea off the Kent coast from 2019 to 2021. The company admitted to 13 offenses at Medway Magistrates’ Court last April, related to sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations during the same period. The offenses included nine counts of dumping untreated sewage into the sea and three counts of failing to inform the authorities promptly about the discharges, as required by its environmental permit.
One additional conviction was for not having a standby pump at Margate’s station between July 27, 2019, and October 4, 2020, which was a violation of its permit. The sentencing occurred at Canterbury Crown Court over two days, resulting in a total fine of £7,127,083 imposed by Mr. Justice Johnson.
This penalty follows a previous fine of £90 million imposed on the company by the Environment Agency in 2021 for nearly 7,000 incidents across Hampshire, Kent, and Sussex.
