Not Much Use Having Rules If Penalties Never Follow Environmental Crimes?

No UK river is currently in perfect environmental health. The Rivers Trust has pointed out that, although there have been more than 240 documented water pollution violations since 2018, England's Environmental Agency (EA) has failed to prosecute or fine anyone (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/12/revealed-no-penalties-issued-under-useless-uk-farm-pollution-laws). In 2018, legislation was passed, enabling the EA to fine individuals or companies (mostly from farms) found to be polluting waterways with contaminated runoff. Fixed penalties between £100 and £300 (which seem rather modest) can be levied but variable money penalties, up to £250,000, might follow court cases. The Rivers Trust suggest that the documented cases are only a tiny fraction of the actual number of pollution events. The EA claim they do not have the resources to pursue the polluters but failure to prosecute means that the legislation is only cosmetic. Some people will just carry on polluting rivers.