ANGLIAN Water has been fined £10,000 after pleading guilty to leaking sewage in two Felixstowe ponds, resulting in the death of 585 fish.The water giant, which had initially pleaded not guilty, claimed exceptional circumstances meant it did not realise there was a problem until it was contacted by the Environment Agency which had discovered sewage in the ponds at Cowpasture Farm on Gulpher Road.

ANGLIAN Water has been fined £10,000 after pleading guilty to leaking sewage into two Felixstowe ponds, resulting in the death of 585 fish.

The water giant, which had initially pleaded not guilty, claimed exceptional circumstances meant it did not realise there was a problem until it was contacted by the Environment Agency which had discovered sewage in the ponds at Cowpasture Farm on Gulpher Road.

Mr Lockwood, who represented the company at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court yesterday, apologised for the leak and stressed the company had paid compensation to the owners of the farm.

He said: “Anglian Water does not go round intentionally polluting the environment.”

But Miriam Tordoff, who represented the Environment Agency, said the incident may have been prevented if Anglian Water had been fully aware of the situation in the area.

She said the agency was told that there were no pipes within 200metres of the polluted ponds, but this turned out to be untrue as the company's records were out of date.

And she said it was for this reason that it took some time to find the source of the sewage leak in the ponds in August 2004.

After the ruling Environment Agency Nick Davis, who investigated the case, said: “This incident shows that sewer systems need to be subjected to regular checks.

“Sewerage undertakers also need to ensure that they know the full extent of their system.

“Had these points been addresses his incident may not have occurred.”

Added to the £10,000 fine, Anglian Water was also made to pay £5,656 in costs to the Environment Agency.