United Utilities fined £800k for taking too much water out of the ground - 22 billion litres
manchestereveningnews.co.ukUnited Utilities has been fined £800,000 for taking too much water out of the ground from boreholes. The Environment Agency (EA) said taking water from a surface or underground source is called abstraction, with a licence needed to take more than 20,000 litres a day.
Water companies abstract significant quantities every year in order to provide clean water to the country, but they are regulated and limited by a strict regime to protect the environment, especially during periods of prolonged dry weather or drought, said the EA.
The agency said United Utilities Water Limited was fined at Warrington magistrates' court on Tuesday after illegally abstracting 22 billion litres of water from boreholes in Lancashire - enough to fill 8,800 Olympic swimming pools.
The water company was also ordered by a district judge to pay court costs of more than £41,000. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. The Environment Agency said in a statement United Utilities took 'significantly more water from the environment than allowed by five of their abstraction licences' during a period of dry weather in 2018, which they said led to 'additional stress on the environment'.
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