Yorkshire Water to pay out £2.35m over pollution - including unauthorised sewage dump into East Bierley beck
Yorkshire Water is to pay out a total of £2.35million to fund environmental improvements after a series of pollution incidents - including at a beck in East Bierley.
The unauthorised sewage dump into Cockleshaw Beck is one of seven incidents across the county between 2019 and 2023.
The water company will now pay £250,000 to Calder and Colne Rivers Trust for the sewage discharge, which came from a collapsed combined sewer and into the beck, says the Environment Agency which secured the investment.
Jacqui Tootill, Water Industry Regulation Manager in Yorkshire, 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 £2.35 million 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.”
Yorkshire Water will also make financial contributions to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Aire Rivers Trust, and Don Catchment Rivers Trust, for the other pollution incidents across the region.
The cash will go to the environmental charities to bolster improvements, and includes improvements to nature reserves, wetland habitat creation and restoring flood plains.
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “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.”