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Southern Water fined £7.1 million for illegal raw sewage dumping off Kent coast
Southern Water was fined £7,127,083 on July 16-17, 2026, by Canterbury Crown Court for illegally dumping raw sewage off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021, according to The Guardian. The company pleaded guilty to 13 charges in April 2026. The judge identified 174 prior convictions and characterized this criminal record as an "exceptionally grave aggravating factor." Southern Water had already been penalized with a £90 million fine in 2021 for approximately 7,000 similar incidents.