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The company was fined £1.35m earlier this year after it admitted breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage
Welsh Water has won its appeal to reduce a £1.35m fine imposed on the company after it admitted more than 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage. Welsh Water appealed the fine at Caernarfon Crown Court arguing it had been excessive, and the fine has now been reduced to £120,000.
A spokesperson for the company said it was “pleased” the appeal was successful. In May, the not-for-profit water company was fined after admitting it has not been properly monitoring water quality at 300 different sites.
Since 2010 there has been a requirement on water companies to carry out self-monitoring of their effluent discharges from their sewage works and water treatment works.
The charges related to related to self-monitoring data submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as part of Welsh Water’s 2020 and 2021 annual reports. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Regulator NRW said that the 2020 report showed a “noticeable deterioration” compared to previous years, with more than 600 breaches recorded at 300 sites in Wales and Herefordshire.
The water company said an internal restructure, IT issues and the pandemic were to blame, but NRW criticised the company for “inadequacies” in its processes which it called “avoidable”.
They also found missing samples and data in 2020 which meant NRW was unable to fully assess or respond to any environmental impacts, including on water quality and wildlife
A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “We are pleased our appeal against the level of fine was successful.
“There was no identified environmental harm associated with this case and the monitoring failures represented a very small number (around 1%) of examples in a programme involving tens of thousands of submissions each year.
“Nonetheless, we recognised our compliance fell short during 2020/21, a time when so much was impacted by Covid, and we entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and we apologised at the hearing.
“As a not-for-profit company our only source of income is from customers. By minimising the amount spent on fines we maximise our investment in services and protecting the environment.”
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