The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
On Sunday July 30 2006, a member of the public called the Environment Agency to say she noticed an obnoxious substance in the river beside Oldbury Court Estate that had turned the water white, produced a strong chemical smell and killed several fish.
An Agency officer attended and noticed a strong smell of sewage and detergent which grew increasingly worse where the water passed over waterfalls and weirs, and created a large amount of foam.
Wessex Water investigated and found that a blockage in the sewer had caused a discharge of sewage.
Bristol Magistrates heard that Wessex Water deployed an operations team and the problem was rectified within two hours.
Despite this there was still a visible and measurable impact on the watercourse for some distance downstream.
‘This discharge of sewage polluted a watercourse in a park popular with local people, and killed several fish. Agency officers had to warn families to keep their dogs and children away from the polluted stream for several hours while the clean-up was undertaken,’ said Peter Hart for the Environment Agency.
Wessex Water, of Claverton Down, Bath, was today fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £1,589 costs by Bristol magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under Sections 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991 of causing sewage to enter controlled waters.
