A UTILITY firm has been ordered to pay out more than £11,000 in fines and costs after polluting a Hampshire river with raw sewage.

Waste poured into the River Meon when a sewer near Bridge Street in Titchfield burst last November.

More than 100 fish were found dead and many more carried further downstream after the incident. The incident also led to a two-week prohibition on the collection of live shellfish from oyster beds in the east Solent.

It took the firm more than 24 hours to get the problems under control after it was first reported and nature experts said it would take years for the local wildlife to re-establish.

The accident happened when sewage poured from the burst pipe and flooded a meadow and ditch, which was flowing in to the River Meon.

Southern Water pleaded guilty to polluting the river. At Fareham Magistrates' Court the firm was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £3,580 costs.

Eamonn St Lawrence, environment officer for the Environment Agency, said afterwards: "The River Meon is typically a crystal clear chalk river and supports a very wide diversity of wildlife.

"It will take years for the wildlife to re-establish. Even now, months later, there is no evidence of recovery of some species.

"We are pleased with the result of this case and hope it demonstrates to other companies, whose operations have some environmental risk attached, that environmental issues are being taken seriously.

"Those causing harm to the environment will be punished."

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, residents were warned at the time not to paddle in the river because of health fears.