A TROUBLED water company has admitted it was at fault for a sewage spill in which 173 litres of waste was pumped into the sea.

In a letter to stakeholders, seen by The Argus, Southern Water said the incident on July 12 was caused by an old unreliable electrical panel that failed at its East Worthing Wastewater Treatment Works.

The embarrassing admission comes after the company spent £21 million upgrading the plant in recent years.

In the letter the company also said it had to bring in “mobile generators” to prevent mass flooding to the surrounding area.

Joel Hufford, Southern Water stakeholder engagement manager for Sussex, wrote in the letter that “we have worked to keep affected customers updated over the last month and provided a clear point of contact by which they can raise any queries or concerns”.

However, Southern, which made a profit of £259 million last year, has only posted three updates on its news page: two the day after the spill and the third the day after that.

At no point did the company report the scale of spillage and only afforded a rough estimate as to the number of litres released after being pressed by The Argus.

The Environment Agency (EA) has said it will investigate Southern’s communication – or lack thereof. The EA also said it may take legal proceedings against the company.

When asked why the East Worthing plant was operating with old unreliable equipment, a company spokeswoman said it had been due to be replaced later in the year.

Since the spill the panel has been replaced with a “new modern equivalent”, which will provide “improved reliability and resilience”.

The spokeswoman added: “Regrettably, it suffered a catastrophic failure. A back-up power generator was in place on site and this was activated as quickly as possible following the power outage.”

The sewage spill was the latest in a long list of incidents which has seen the company named one of the worst performing in the country.

Over the last ten years the company has been reprimanded on numerous occasions.

In 2007 it was hit with a £20.3 million fine for lying about its service and overcharging customers.

In 2012, more than 40 million litres of sewage was released into the sea from the East Worthing plant, leading to beaches along a ten-mile stretch to be closed for six days.

And just last year Southern Water was hit by a record £2 million fine for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage, leaving them closed to the public for nine days.

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