YORKSHIRE Water has been ordered to pay £650,000 for failures at two Barnsley sites, it has been revealed.
It comes following enforcement action by the Environment Agency after incidents at wastewater treatment works and sewer infrastructure in the region.
Enforcement undertakings are civil sanctions that allow companies to make legally binding offers to make amends for their offending.
The incidents, which took place between 2019 and 2023, involved unauthorised sewage discharges into watercourses including the River Dearne.
The cash will go to environmental charities to bolster improvements, and includes improvements to nature reserves, wetland habitat creation and restoring flood plains.
They have been ordered to pay £500,000 to Don Catchment Rivers Trust for the failure of a a storm tank at Lundwood Wastewater Treatment Works and unauthorised sewage discharges into the River Dearne the joint-highest in the region.
The Environment Agency say Yorkshire Water discovered a major crack in Storm Tank Five at Lundwood in June 2022, leading to its removal from service and a substantial loss of storm storage that caused multiple compliance breaches while interim mitigation was put in place.
The company has introduced several mitigation measures, including temporary extra storm storage, producing updated operational and compliance plans, and constructing a new £2.2m storm lagoon completed in December 2022.
The payment will be used to deliver schemes to improve water quality in the Dearne Valley, specifically improving land management and promoting environmentally friendly farming practices, as well as some weir removal.
The second payment £150,000 to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust relates to unauthorised sewage discharge at Laithes Lane in Athersley South.
Yorkshire Water responded to a pollution incident on May 18, 2019 after a blockage of rags in a public combined sewer caused sewage to escape onto the highway and enter a surface water sewer, ultimately discharging into a nearby watercourse.
Dead macroinvertebrates were found up to 1.8km downstream, indicating environmental impact.
The payment will go towards nature reserves, wetland habitat creation and floodplain restoration.
It is part of a total of £2.35m Yorkshire Water will have to pay.
Jacqui Tootill, water industry regulation manager, said: “While we continue to prosecute and sanction the most serious offences, enforcement undertakings allow companies to put right what went wrong and channel money directly into the environment.
“This £2.35m will be invested back into the local area to enhance the environment, delivering real benefits for people and wildlife.
“We are continuing to drive meaningful improvements in water company performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water told the Chronicle: “We take our environmental commitments very seriously and we’re investing £1.5bn over the next five years to improve Yorkshire’s rivers and coastal waters.
“Unfortunately, there are instances where things go wrong and we take responsibility to make it right.
“We always cooperate fully with investigations, and sometimes these can lead to us giving enforcement undertakings to the Environment Agency.
“As part of these undertakings, compensation is provided to local charities so improvements can be made to benefit our local environment.
“We have seen compensation from past undertakings deliver real improvements for local initiatives.”
