Wolverhampton firms fined £20k for dumping waste in sewers
Four firms in Wolverhampton have been told to pay a total of more than £20,000 after dumping trade waste into the Severn Trent Water sewer network.
On eight occasions in 2013, the companies breached legal limits for regulating the discharge of metals into a public sewer, the hearing at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court was told.
Simplex Metal Finishers Limited, D&M Plating Limited and Beronhill Limited pleaded guilty to putting varied amounts of metals into the company's sewer network.
Beronhill Limited, on the corner of Lower Walsall Street and Corser Street, was made to pay a total of £7,453.10 for three offences.
D&M Plating, of Lower Walsall Street, was ordered to pay £6,757.28 after admitting two offences and Stewart Street company Simplex Metal Finishers Limited's single offence cost them £5,347.18.
Star Polishing and Plating Company Limited, of Graiseley Row, pleaded guilty to two offences of polluting the water with nickel and will pay £6,470.78.
It is a criminal offence under the Water Industry Act 1991 to dispose trade effluent into a public sewer which contain too much metal.
Simon Cocks, waste water services director for Severn Trent Water, said: "We hope this will make other companies think about what they are doing with regards to discharges to the sewer system.
"Our customers pay for damage to the sewer network and the treatment works, so it's important we prosecute offenders in appropriate cases and take action to recover costs."
