SOUTHERN Water has been ordered to pay £10,000 in fines and legal costs after it let sewage seep into a stream.

Sewage from a pumping station at Gainsborough Drive, Beltinge, near Herne Bay, polluted 550 yards of Bishopstone Glen – a short watercourse which flows through housing estates, woodland and then discharges into the sea.

The incident happened on May 14 last year when a member of the public spotted the sewage being discharged in Fairfax Drive.

That day a fishing competition was taking place in the area and an environmental inspector from Canterbury City Council warned anglers not to eat any fish caught.

Southern Water admitted causing pollution contrary to the Water Resources Act when it appeared before magistrates in Canterbury.

The Environment Agency prosecuted the case. Team leader Rob Wise said: “Southern Water, and any other company that handles polluting material, has a responsibility to the environment – there should have been adequate alarm systems at this pumping station considering its proximity to a watercourse.

“We hope this is a lesson to other companies that they must take environmental responsibilities seriously.”

The court was told that Southern Water failed to take immediate action over the sewage leak because of problems with the faulty alarm system.

Clifford Darton, for Southern Water, said the company managed 21,000 miles of sewers and 4,000 pumping stations. He said the company had learned lessons from the episode even though the “environmental impact had been quite slight with no deaths of fish or other animals”.

After the case, Southern Water’s wastewater quality manager Graham Purvis said: “As a result of the incident Southern Water has upgraded the alarm system at the pumping station and re-routed the airlines on the pumps.

“We also carried out an extensive CCTV survey and jetting of the sewers in and around the pumping station and replaced the manhole covers with bolted versions.

“We greatly regret this incident and have taken extensive steps to try and ensure it does not happen again.”

Magistrates fined the company £8,000 and ordered it to pay prosecution costs of £2,010.