Glastonbury Festivals Ltd have been told to pay a £12,000 fine and £19,000 in prosecution fees after thousands of gallons of human sewage leaked from one of three waste storage containers kept on the site in 2014.
While revellers enjoyed the dulcet tones of Dolly Parton, fish in the area got a bum deal after Whitelake River, which backs onto the Worthy Farm site, was flooded with festival poo, causing a serious deterioration in water quality.
It’s estimated that a total of 42 fish including 29 bullhead – a protected species in Europe – were poisoned by the sewage, and that failure by festival staff to notify authorities allowed the issue to spread faster than anticipated.
Simon Cooper, the district judge in the hearing between Glastonbury Festival Ltd and the Environment Agency told Bristol Magistrates Court that he was satisfied the festival had 'low culpability' in the incident. Reported in the Guardian, Cooper said: 'I am bemused at the vigour and energy that has been put into this detailed analysis of what happened, much after the event. I am sure lessons will be learned. I shall say no more about it, save to say that cooperation is clearly essential and I hope that this hearing has done nothing to affect that.'
Glastonbury Festival regularly donates money to causes such as WaterAid, Oxfam and Greenpeace, and is committed to monitoring the impact of the event on the environment. After the hearing, festival organiser Michael Eavis told Metro: ‘I think it was a bit of a waste of time, to be honest with you. It wasn’t that serious a crime really. We did our very, very best when we found the leak – we really did all that we should have done within the timescale. ‘This wasn’t really necessary. We’re putting together the biggest show in the world in four weeks’ time.’
Glastonbury 2016 takes place next month with headline sets from Adele, Coldplay and Muse.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.