In a potentially groundbreaking decision, the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that United Utilities, the region’s water supplier, CAN be held liable for discharging sewage and foul water into the Manchester Ship Canal.
The judges determined that United Utilities’ network includes over 100 outlets, such as sewers, sewage works, and pumping stations, that discharge into the canal, which stretches from Manchester to the Mersey Estuary.
The ruling stated:
“Discharges of foul water from the outfalls could be avoided if United Utilities invested in improved infrastructure and treatment.”
The proceedings stem from a dispute over whether United Utilities needs the Canal Company’s consent to discharge foul water into the canal, thus requiring payment for a licence, or whether it can pollute the canal without consent and free of charge.
The Canal Company is barred by the 1991 Act from bringing actions in nuisance or trespass.
However, the ruling emphasized the broader significance of the case.
“The implication of the judgments in the courts below is that, absent an allegation of negligence or deliberate wrongdoing, no owner of any watercourse or body of water can bring any claim based on nuisance or trespass against any sewerage undertaker in respect of polluting discharges into the water, however frequent and voluminous the discharges may be, and however damaging they may be to the owner’s commercial or other interests or to the owner’s ability to use or enjoy its property. In view of that wider importance, the court has permitted the Environmental Law Foundation to make submissions as intervener.”
This decision could now allow the public and businesses to sue water companies for polluting waterways.
The city has two treatment plants along it’s stretch of the canal, located in Weaste in Salford and in Patricroft, Eccles.
The Good Law Project hailed the judgment as a “landmark” decision.
Jennine Walker, the group’s interim head of legal, stated:
“This is a sensational victory and a real boost to the clean-up of our rivers, waterways, and seas.
“It gives people stronger legal tools to turn the tide on the sewage scandal and hold water companies to account, after our toothless and underfunded regulators have failed to do so.”
