SOUTHERN Water has been fined £160,000 for polluting the Sussex coast.

Forty million litres of untreated sewage spilled out into the sea when their Worthing treatment works failed during a storm.

All beaches along the roughly ten miles between Lancing and Ferring were closed for six days following the incident in September 2012.

Southern Water was convicted in August of breaching environmental regulations over the incident but cleared of two charges relating to the proper maintenance of equipment.

The Environment Agency (EA) prosecuted the company and said it was “pleased” at the fine imposed.

Sentencing at Chichester Crown Court yesterday, Judge Christopher Parker QC branded the company "negligent".

He said: “The company knew there was a foreseeable risk of an unauthorised discharge for a nine-month period due to the lack of adequate screening of untreated sewage at the treatment works.

“Therefore they should have been aware of the possibility of a serious failure at the site, were negligent and should have had adequate back-up systems in place.”

It was noted, however ,that the company had since taken steps to address the problems on site and measures put in place to reduce the risk of another incident occurring.

The court had heard that at 9.30pm on September 1, 2012, three pumps failed at Southern Water’s East Worthing sewage treatment works.

Around 220 litres per second of untreated sewage were then pumped half a mile out to sea.

The site is allowed to discharge treated waste nearly three miles out to sea.

The pumps were repaired around 45 hours later.

In its defence, Southern Water said the circumstances surrounding the pollution were an “unprecedented emergency”.

Company director Simon Oates said: "We acknowledge the court's decision and would like to take this opportunity to apologise to any customers or businesses who were affected by this incident."

Chris Wick of the EA said it was pleased at the financial penalty.

He added: “The incident had a serious impact on local businesses, tourism and the public as a whole following the closure of local beaches for several days.”