Pollution of the River Brain, April 2022. Photo: Environment AgencyAnglian Water has been fined £1.6 million for repeatedly polluting the River Brain in Essex with sewage over six weeks in 2022, following a prosecution by the Environment Agency.

The case was heard at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on 14 October, where District Judge Timothy King also ordered the company to pay £27,334 in costs and a £190 surcharge.

The pollution stretched for around 14km between Braintree and Witham, and monitors recorded the highest ammonia levels in the river for 10 years. The Environment Agency traced it to a faulty valve at Anglian Water’s Braintree water recycling centre, where a release of sludge caused the rise in ammonia. The regulator said the company had ignored alarms and that staff had not communicated about the incidents.

Marcus Sibley, water industry regulatory manager for the Environment Agency in East Anglia, said the incidents reflected “organisational failure” by Anglian Water.

Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said: “Anglian Water have clearly been too slow to act in this case and the environment has paid the price.”

Separately, Anglian Water has pleaded guilty to two offences of polluting the Thames Estuary and will be sentenced in April 2027.

In the 12 months to March, the Environment Agency carried out nearly 1,800 inspections of Anglian Water’s wastewater sites, identifying more than 830 actions. The company is rated 2 stars in the latest environmental performance assessment. Since 2015, water companies have been successfully prosecuted more than 70 times, with fines totalling £169 million.

Source: Environment Agency, 16 October 2026 (original press release on GOV.UK). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.