United Utilities sewage dumping case heads to Supreme Court
The UK’s largest listed water company, United Utilities, heads to the Supreme Court this week in a fight over discharge of sewage into the country’s waterways.
The Manchester Ship Canal Company, which owns the 36-mile long canal that links Manchester to the Irish Sea, is claiming the water firm’s sewage disposal methods are akin to acts of trespass or nuisance under British law.
The canal owner first launched its legal claim against United Utilities in 2010, over claims its decision to discharge sewage into the Manchester Ship Canal amounted to acts of trespass and nuisance.
United Utilities, however, argued the canal owner should be blocked from bringing its claim forward, in claiming it should only be subject to penalties imposed on it by the UK’s water regulator, Ofwat, due to laws set out in the Water Industry Act of 1991.
Critics have claimed Ofwat has failed to take action against water companies across the UK that have repeatedly pumped raw sewage into rivers, canals, and waterways.
United Utilities was previously successful in fighting its claim in both the High Court and the Court of Appeals. The Manchester Ship Canal Company is now taking to legal battle to Britain’s top court, in seeking to take private action against the water firm.
The Supreme Court will now decide whether United Utilities should be protected from the canal owners’ claim.