A SEWAGE system failure which saw beaches shut as thousands of litres of untreated waste was pumped into the sea was a result of an electrical fault, a court was told.

The chaos at East Worthing Water Works in 2012 resulted in sewage being sent into the English Channel amid concerns it would otherwise back-up and flood areas of town including Worthing Hospital.

Giving evidence at a trial for allegedly breaching environmental permits, Southern Water bosses said the failure of pumps in September 2012 was due to equipment miscommunication.

Jurors at Chichester Crown Court heard yesterday that the pumps had failed because of mistakes by the level controller meaning more debris, or “rag”, entered the pumps.

The court heard an interview with the company’s head of waste water, Jon Crooke, recorded in 2012.

He said: “We believe the root cause was a level controller of these final effluent pumps.

“We have had our senior electrical engineer come and take a look.

“His investigation thinks that the most likely cause was the level control controller was misreading and asking the pumps to pump down.

“Both pumps pump down to a lower level. At that lower level they hauled up rag from the well that they would not normally do.”

The Environment Agency (EA), however, said the removal of two faulty metal debris screens in 2011 and 2012 meant more debris – such as nappies and face wipes – was getting into the system.

It claims the sewage failure was Southern’s fault for not maintaining equipment.

Southern Water is accused of three breaches of environmental permit conditions over the incident, which the company denies.

The trial opened on Tuesday and is expected to last five to seven days.

The prosecution also claims that Southern Water had not told the EA it had removed the key debris screens, which had been temporarily replaced with a bar and rake.

However, yesterday the defence produced two documents suggesting it had done so via email.

The court was told a blow-by-blow account of how the disaster unfolded from September 1, starting with a call from an operator at 9.30pm to say three pumps had failed.

The trial continues.