The Times: Water firms fined £10m for sewage spills as bosses get £30m in bonuses
“Water firms were fined just £10.5 million for sewage spills that killed tens of thousands of fish over seven years, while industry executives earned bonuses worth £30 million in two years.
The numbers have led to politicians calling for a ban on water executive bonuses, and came as campaigners promised to step up protests against water pollution this month.
Figures released by the Environment Agency under a freedom of information request reveal that at least 33,800 fish were killed between 2015 and 2022.
The true figure is likely to be much higher. Not all incidents record the number of fish killed, and some pollution events go unreported.
The most fish killed in a single incident was the 30,000 that died in the River Amber, Derbyshire, after Severn Trent released a hazardous chemical in 2015. The firm was fined £350,000 three years later.
