The incidents involved unauthorised sewage discharges at sewage treatment works in Sunderland and County Durham, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has confirmed.
Enforcement undertakings are civil sanctions that allow companies to make legally binding offers to make amends for environmental breaches.
The Environment Agency has accepted the two enforcement undertakings from Northumbrian Water, totalling £550,000, after separate pollution incidents at Sedgeletch Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, and Lanchester STW in Lanchester, County Durham.
Both incidents involved unauthorised sewage discharges into local streams. The money will go to environmental charities to bolster improvements and include habitat restoration, as well as work to improve fish migration and reduce pollution.
Northumbrian Water said that it works “incredibly hard” to avoid pollution incidents and is making “significant long-term investment” to protect and improve rivers, coasts and local environments across the North East.
The water company will contribute £350,000 to Wear Rivers Trust for an unauthorised sewage discharge from Sedgeletch STW at Houghton-le-Spring into Moors Burn in September 2020, and £200,000 to Durham Wildlife Trust for an unauthorised sewage discharge from Lanchester STW into Smallhope Burn in April 2021.
The Enforcement Undertakings come amid a strengthened crackdown by the Environment Agency on pollution and poor performance across the water industry, with the government recently announcing the scrapping of water watchdog Ofwat in favour of a new “super regulator” as DEFRA said it was taking “swift action” to “hold water companies to account” after “years of failure”.
Ofwat said last year that Northumbrian Water had agreed to pay an enforcement package of £15.7 million after its investigation “found failures” in how the company operated and maintained some of its sewage works and networks, which resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows
In June, responding to Northumbrian Water’s 2025 storm overflow data, Prudhoe councillor Angie Scott said the company’s 27,776 storm overflow spills in the year, totalling 123,521 hours, “remain far too high” and that the number will “understandably concern communities”.
Northumbrian Water says these storm overflows are permitted to operate in wet weather to “protect properties from flooding” and that they are “heavily diluted” with rainwater.
The company added that the number of storm overflow spills discharging in the region has reduced by over 13,000 (31%) from the previous year, and that it plans to invest £1.7 billion in environmental improvements between 2025 and 2030.
Rachael Caldwell, Environment Agency water industry regulation manager in the North East, said: “It’s unacceptable that water companies continue to pollute our watercourses. We expect compliance and will take action when we see breaches.
“We always consider enforcement options on a case-by-case basis, and these civil sanctions allow wrongdoings to be corrected while contributing to environmental improvements.
“This £550,000 will be invested back into the local area to enhance the environment, bringing real benefits for people and wildlife.
“We are continuing to drive meaningful improvements in water company performance, clean up waterways and crack down on persistent offenders.”
A Northumbrian Water spokesperson said: “Since these incidents, we have continued to invest in our wastewater network and treatment works to help protect the environment and reduce the likelihood of similar issues occurring in future.
“This includes a £7.8 million upgrade completed at Lanchester sewage treatment works, with a further £6 million investment planned. At Sedgeletch, a £13.6 million programme of work is underway, alongside wider improvements across our network.
“We work closely with the Environment Agency on all reported incidents and, where enforcement undertakings are accepted, these allow the local community to benefit from the funding offered.”
