Glastonbury Festival fined £31,000 after sewage leak that polluted stream in 2014

The incident happened after a steel tank used to store human sewage from festival-goers sprung a leak during the event in June 2014.

Sewage filtered into Whitelake river and caused harm to water quality and fish - with a number of protected brown trout dying as a result.

Sensors in the steam alerted the Environment Agency, which later prosecuted the Somerset festival, that ammonia levels had increased.

Glastonbury Festivals Limited admitted a single charge of breaching environmental regulations at a hearing in January.

District Judge Simon Cooper, sitting at Bristol Magistrates' Court today, fined the festival £12,000 and ordered it to pay £19,000 towards prosecution costs.

The judge found Glastonbury Festival had "low culpability" for the incident and praised its response and systems following a two-day hearing.

"I am still slightly amused that it has been necessary to go to this level of detail," the judge said.

"I am concerned that these proceedings have set the Environment Agency somewhat against Glastonbury Festival Limited.

"The consequence is that I have had hammered out in front of me detailed evidence precisely concerning who did what in the night and the morning of June 29, 2014.

"I am satisfied that there was proper planning for the festival and no criticism is made of that. The Environment Agency were in an advisory capacity and signed off the sanitary facilities plan.

"There was a waste management plan, there was a rivers and streams management plan."

The festival appeared in court on five occasions - twice at South Somerset and Mendip Magistrates' Court in Yeovil and three times in Bristol - in connection with the incident.

A Newton hearing to establish the festival's culpability started on Monday.

The court heard the prosecution has cost the Environment Agency £34,236.81.

"It is not my place to act as a public inquiry into the matter," the judge added.

"I am impressed by how responsive Glastonbury Festivals Limited have been. I am satisfied that there was a proper system in place which had been previously approved.

"I am bemused at the vigour and energy that has been put into this detailed analysis of what happened much after the event.

"I am sure lessons will be learned. I shall say no more about it, save to say that cooperation is clearly essential and I hope that this hearing has done nothing to affect that."

The single charge stated that the festival caused "a water discharge activity not under or in accordance with an environmental permit, namely the discharge of human sewage derived from the Glastonbury music festival contrary to regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010".

Glastonbury Festival used three very large steel tanks to store human waste from the site, which had a population of 170,000 during the 2014 event.

One of the tanks sprung a leak in one of the joins between the steel plates and the base of the tank, the court heard.

Andrew Marshall, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, said: "The leak went into the River Whitelake.

"It had a significant impact on that river. There was a death of a number of fish in levels that would not be significant except that the Somerset Levels is a preserved community of fish.

"Human sewage is very polluting. The festival has evolved more rapidly than the ability to deal with the waste."

Mr Marshall said an alarm for ammonia levels in the water was activated at about 11pm on June 28, in 2014, with levels continuing to rise.

Efforts were made to establish the cause of the leak throughout the early hours of the morning but it was not established due to the difficult conditions.

The court heard those testing the water had to work through thick mud, vegetation, darkness and festival-goers at the site.

Judge Cooper said the festival could have called a number for the Environment Agency, which may have sent an officer to assist with the work.

"They would have been unimpeachable had they done so," the judge added.

A previous hearing was told the number of fish killed was 42, with 39 recorded downstream of the link and only 10 of these brown trout.

The Environment Agency was alerted to the leak at 6.34am on June 29 and officers reached the site at 9am, the court heard.

Representing the festival, John Cooper said: "The response was absolutely correct.

"There's no criticism of resources here or of equipment. The only criticism is that it should have been dealt with earlier."

Glastonbury Festival's turnover in 2014 was about £37m but its net profit was about £84,000 due to its level of charitable giving.

Mr Cooper said the company had given £8.7m to WaterAid, Oxfam and Greenpeace over the past eight festivals.

"It is a unique business to come before the courts," he said.

"Payments are very modest to directors. All of this money is carefully looked after and carefully allocated.

"It is almost the antithesis of what one sees when sentencing a corporate defendant.

"The most important thing for Glastonbury Festival is that it ensures that, going forward, all relationships with all bodies are as good as they have been."

The sentence took into account an incident in 2015 in which a contractor believed that tanks for the long drop toilets were linked.

He did not remove the waste when he should have done, causing it to get into the water course - resulting in harm.

Speaking after the case, the Environment Agency said more than 4km of the Whitelake River was polluted with 20,000 gallons of untreated sewage.

The festival's failure to alert the agency through a hotline resulted in an eight-hour delay and caused a "serious deterioration" in water quality, a spokeswoman said.

The source of the pollution was traced to the leaking tank at Steanbow Park Farm in Pilton, Somerset, which was installed and operated by the festival.

At least 42 fish, included 29 bullhead - a European protected species - 10 brown trout and three stone loach were killed.

A fish survey later found that no trout survived the incident, the Environment Agency spokeswoman added.

Ian Withers, environment manager for the Environment Agency, said: "While we recognise the Glastonbury Festival provides enjoyment to tens of thousands of people and raises money for a number of good causes, the organisers have a responsibility to ensure it does not cause harm to the environment.

"The festival is held in a beautiful part of the Somerset countryside and we want to see it remain that way.

"This was a serious pollution incident that had a significant impact on water quality and the fish population of the Whitelake River over some distance.

"Environment Agency staff respond 24/7 following reports to our pollution hotline, 0800 807060. We urge prompt reporting so we can protect water quality and the environment."