Environment Agency may penalise Southern Water over Millford’s Danestream sewage pollution

SOUTHERN Water could be penalised by the Environment Agency over the sewage discharge which killed hundreds of fish in a New Forest waterway.

Parish councillors in Milford also questioned the company’s handling of the pollution incident that killed “seven eighths” of the Danestream’s fish, invertebrates and other wildlife.

Earlier this week, Southern Water apologised and launched an investigation after a power failure at a pumping station in Ashley last Thursday caused the catastrophic greywater discharge.

An EA spokesperson has since told the A&T: “We continue to investigate the incident, but keep all enforcement options under constant review.

“Not to pre-empt the outcome of any investigations, but as the regulator we can prosecute water companies for causing pollution to the environment.

“But again, I strongly stress that our investigations into this incident are ongoing, so no outcome has yet been determined.”

Following the sewage discharge, fishers and conservationists reported seeing hundreds of fish, including eels and brown trout, floating belly up in scenes which left one witness “feeling sick”.

Southern Water and EA workers were seen in the area over the weekend using aerators in the water and gathering up dead wildlife between Sturt Pond and Mill Meadow.

In the aftermath of the pollution incident, NFDC also advised people not to swim at Milford until Monday, despite the Danestream discharging into Mount Lake at Keyhaven, where children are often seen crabbing.

Former EA water quality officer David Horne, who chairs the Milford Conservation Volunteers, gave an update on the pollution incident to Milford Parish Council members on Monday.

Speaking for the council, clerk Graham Wells told the A&T: “The council is devastated this incident has happened and we will be looking to get some information and answers from Southern Water when they have finished investigating.

“We know there was a power outage at a fairly remote pumping station and there is an internal investigation. We know plants like these usually have back-up generators that are supposed to kick in if power supply is interrupted, and as a parish council we want to know why they didn’t in this instance.

“We expect some kind of information to be forthcoming in the short period. As a council, when we learned about the incident we put notices all along the riverside advising people against swimming.”

He continued: “What has been very surprising – and quite worrying – in all this is that we’ve had no formal contact from the Environment Agency, Southern Water or the district council.

“It’s quite upsetting, as we are a major landowner in the area where the stream runs, and nobody has been in touch about this incident to this day.

“Councillors are now discussing what the procedure should be as to how we are informed about incidents such as this. If we knew earlier, we could have reacted quicker and been more proactive in helping keep people away from the water. We could have been on the front foot.”

Following the council’s observations, a Southern Water spokesperson told the A&T: “We’ve been in touch with Milford Parish Council and have apologised that they were not contacted sooner.

“Pollution incidents should not happen, and we are extremely sorry for the impact this has caused. As part of our learnings from the incident we have strengthened our processes so that the parish council will receive regular updates from now on.”

The spokesperson added: “We’re still working to restore water quality at Danestream and will be investigating what has happened fully, and that process has started.”

Earlier in the week the company had said: “We’re extremely sorry for this incident which occurred due to an electrical fault that impacted our pumping station near Peter’s Lane in the New Forest. Our teams are continuing to work around the clock to minimise the environmental impact and restore water quality.

“We’re sorry to confirm that regrettably this has led to a number of dead fish at the watercourse.

“Incidents like this shouldn’t happen, and we’re carrying out a full investigation to understand why this happened and how we can make operational changes to prevent this from happening in the future.”

• Anyone who sees a pollution incident can report it to the Environment Agency on its incident hotline 0800 80 70 60.