A WATER company was fined £15,000 after raw sewage seeped into a County Durham beck twice in three days.

Northumbrian Water was also ordered to pay £568.15 costs after admitting two offences under the Water Resources Act of 1991.

Durham magistrates were told the breaches arose as a result of a tributary of the Rowletch Burn, at The Brooms in Ouston, near Chester-le-Street, being polluted twice after a combined sewer overflow discharged sewage into the watercourse, in April last year.

The company informed the Environment Agency that a blockage caused the sewage to enter the beck on April 8.

A site meeting was arranged between the company and the agency to discuss the reported incident and attempt to prevent any repeat.

But at the site meeting, on April 11, agency environment officer Neil Patterson noted sewage again discharging from the overflow into the beck.

Sewage fungus and litter was spotted on the watercourse at least 50 metres downstream of the overflow, which is designed to discharge vastly diluted sewage only during periods of heavy rainfall to prevent it backing up into people's homes.

Following the hearing, Mr Patterson said: "I'm delighted with the court's decision and the fine imposed.

"Companies need to take their environmental responsibilities seriously and deal with potential problems before pollution occurs.

"It will be cheaper in the long run for companies to live up to their obligations under law than to face fines of this type."

Mr Patterson pledged that the agency will continue to bring prosecutions of any company found breaking the law in such cases.

Alistair Baker, of Northumbrian Water, said: "There was no lasting environmental impact, no fish deaths or anything of that nature.

"Northumbrian Water pleaded guilty as we have a strict liability if something blocks one of our pipes causing sewage to come out of a pipe into the environment.

"It's our fault, irrespective that what caused the blockage shouldn't have been in the sewer and we didn't put it in in the first place.

"We reported it and flushed the burn with clean water. We cleaned up. We have 16,000 kilometres of underground sewer and they are all susceptible to blockages, but this was the first prosecution of its kind for 18 months."