April 2017: NSW Land and Environment Court ordered Council to pay $175,000 for sewage spill Hawkesbury City Council (HC Council) owns and operates a sewage treatment plant in New South Wales and holds an environment protection licence (EPL) for the premises in respect of sewage treatment.
HC Council employees carried out maintenance work of certain plant and equipment including reinstalling parts.
HC Council pleaded guilty to each offence.
Justice Pain noted that the incidents were in the moderate to high end of the low range of objective seriousness and resulted from obvious deficiencies in HC Council’s operating systems, particularly the absence of maintenance checks.
More spills in NSW The EPA has a number of options when determining to regulate a breach of the POEO Act.
For example, it may issue a penalty notice, enter into an enforceable undertaking with the offender or, for more serious offences, like the HC Council example, prosecute.
Penalty notice offences A penalty notice for pollution of waters can attract a penalty of up to $15,000 (for a corporation) for each offence.
This includes undertaking physical works and plant upgrades as well as improving environmental compliance systems, including updating practices and procedures and undertaking employee training; and Financial contributions to an environmental project.
Thames Water was charged with 14 offences involving discharge of untreated sewage into the River Thames from four sewage treatment works and a large sewage pumping station.
Thames Water pleaded guilty to all offences and was fined over 20 million GBP.