Panorama
 
 
 
 
 

WATER TRANSFERRED BETWEEN RIVERS TO SAVE FISH

Environmental Panorama
International
June of 2011


23-Jun-2011
Fresh water has been released from the River Welland, near Spalding, into the South Holland Main Drain to reduce salinity levels after a number of fish died as a result of salt water entering the watercourse.


The Environment Agency stepped in on Friday, 17 June, with assistance from South Holland Internal Drainage Board, to prevent further deaths after receiving reports of dead fish in the drain.

South Holland Main Drain is a freshwater watercourse that can become salty during warm and low-flow conditions.

The recent long period of dry weather and ongoing drought has meant less water in the drainage system and a higher concentration of salt water entering from the Tidal River Nene or possibly from groundwater.

Manfai Tang, Environment Management Team Leader, said: “Since receiving reports about dead fish in South Holland Main Drain, we have taken action to reduce the salinity of the water. This has included repairing a sluice and pumping in fresh water.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation and expect it to improve with fresh water entering the drain. It is important for people to tell us if they spot distressed fish so that we can take action quickly. The new fishing season is now underway and we are asking anglers and other river-users to help us keep an eye on our waterways.”

The fresh water was pumped from the River Welland and across the drainage system with assistance from South Holland Internal Drainage Board. Holbeach and District Angling Club has been kept updated and has been supporting the Environment Agency by providing information and informing the local fishing community.

Oxygen levels in the water are high, however, the salinity levels in South Holland Main Drain means that conditions are not favourable to some fish such as pike, which is the main fish species seen to be affected by the salt.

Environment Agency officers will continue to monitor the situation and the Environment Agency’s fisheries team is on stand-by.

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Environment Agency taking action after central London fish kill

20-Jun-2011
Pollution on the River Thames causes fish to die.
Environment Agency officers are supervising the clean up of the River Thames in west London following the discharge of over 450,000 tonnes of storm sewage over the weekend.

Large numbers of dead fish including flounder, bream, roach, eel, dace and other aquatic life such as water shrimps have been spotted along the river along with sewage detritus.

The incident happened after the heavy rain over the weekend caused the release of more than 250,000 tonnes of storm sewage into the river from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and at least 200,000 tonnes of storm sewage from the Mogden Sewage Treatment Works in Isleworth. These discharges, combined with the current warm dry weather and low river flows, resulted in the low oxygen levels and fish deaths along a kilometre stretch of the river

Oxygen levels are being studied by Environment Agency monitoring stations along the river. Thames Water has dosed the polluted water with hydrogen peroxide from three different locations to add oxygen to the water. Its oxygenation vessels have also been deployed to the area and can inject 30 tonnes of oxygen a day into the water.

Howard Davidson, the Environment Agency’s Director, South East said: “This is a major sewage pollution incident which has caused the death of a huge number of fish. Discharges from combined sewers happen 50 to 60 times a year and can be caused by as little as 2 mm of rainfall, and on Sunday more than 30mm fell over west London.

“We are currently monitoring Thames Water’s clean up efforts and assessing the full impact but unfortunately we may never know the exact numbers of fish that have died.”

The Environment Agency has worked with Thames Water and other partners to find a solution to these discharges. The London Tideway Improvements Programme which will reduce such storm sewage discharges to the Thames, involves upgrades to all the major tidal sewage treatment works to increase their capacity, and the proposed London Tideway Tunnels which recently underwent a public consultation.

Members of the public can report pollution incidents by calling the Environment Agency’s emergency hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Ends
All media enquiries: 0118 953 5555
Please ask for the duty press officer

Environment Agency news releases, both national and regional, can be found on its web site: www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Notes to Editor

Storm sewage is foul sewage diluted with rainwater. This occurs where you have a combined sewage network which takes both sewage from homes and businesses and rainfall run-off from roads and other hard surfaces.

The sewage treatment works, pumping stations and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) along the River Thames have legally permitted discharges and are in place to prevent sewage backing up into peoples homes and properties when the sewer network or sewage treatment works have reached full capacity.

The London Tideway Tunnels involves construction of a Lee Tunnel and a Thames Tunnel. Once completed, these huge tunnels running under London will intercept and store combined sewer overflows and transfer the effluent to Beckton sewage treatment works. The scheme will address 36 unsatisfactory combined sewer overflows, many of which will be intercepted, and will provide a much-needed upgrade to a sewerage system that has not seen major changes since early last century.

London Tideway Tunnels, along with major upgrades to 5 of London’s sewage treatment works will, once complete, protect the river from regular pollution from storm discharges.
The Environment Agency has informed the London Port Health Authority which protects public health in the London Port area.

For enquiries about risks to human health please contact the London Port Health Authority directly.

 
 

Source: Environment Agency – United Kingdom
Press consultantship
All rights reserved

 
 
 
 

 

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