South West Water has been ordered to pay £33,000 in fines and costs for failing to properly maintain sewage treatment works serving three small Westcountry communities in a case brought by the Environment Agency.

A court heard there had been a history of failures and non-compliance at treatment works in Treskinnick, near Bude, Cornwall; Black Dog, near Crediton, Devon; and Holcombe Rogus, near Wellington, in Somerset.

When Environment Agency officers inspected Treskinnick on May 19 they noticed the filter bed wasn’t working.

“Odorous and black” effluent was polluting a nearby stream and sewage fungus were present on the stream bed. The pollution killed most aquatic life for over 600 metres. An environmental survey showed It also impacted the Wanson Water, further down stream, which flows into Widemouth Bay, a popular surfing beach, some 2.5 km from the treatment works.

This latest breach followed problems at Treskinnick in 2009 and 2010 when the site failed initial inspections by the agency. The works cover a hamlet of 30 people.

Black Dog sewage treatment works breached its consent on three occasions in 2010 and again last July when it failed an inspection. Breaches at the Holcombe Rogus treatment works occurred between June 2010 and March 2011.

The Environment Agency notified South West Water of the sub-standard conditions at all three treatment works resulting from an apparent lack of maintenance, but insufficient action was taken to rectify the problems and improve the level of compliance at each site.

“These pollution incidents were avoidable and resulted from a failure on the part of South West Water to maintain these sites in accordance with their environmental permits. Even small sewage treatment works’ require maintenance and investment and should not be neglected by site operators,” said Louise Weller for the Environment Agency.

At Bodmin magistrates last Friday, South West Water pleaded guilty to a total of five offences under the Environmental Permitting Act 2010 and was fined £7,000 for each sewage treatment works and ordered to pay £12,000 costs.