Southern Water was fined £2.4m over multiple pollution incidents around Faversham and Whitstable between 2019 and 2021, the Environment Agency said in a 22 September 2026 press release. The agency said the company was charged with releasing untreated sewage, sewage debris, diesel and waste matter into the sea and a brook. District judge Stephen Leake, sitting at Bromley magistrates’ court, also ordered £69,894.04 in costs and a £190 victim surcharge.

The agency said diesel from a leaking generator reached Swalecliffe Brook and then the sea in July 2019, and that untreated sewage entered Faversham Creek over three days in March 2020 after pumps stopped working. It said the company also failed to report the initial circumstances to the agency. In August 2021, the agency said investigators found around 70 dead fish, including eels, in the brook, and that Canterbury City Council posted warnings against swimming at Tankerton and Herne Bay for nearly a week afterwards.

Southern Water pleaded guilty at Medway magistrates’ court on 7 April to all five charges under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, the agency said. It said the fine followed a £7.1m penalty over pollution that closed Thanet beaches for days.