Having
your home beside the sea sounds idyllic
– but when the sea comes knocking on your
door then your dream can turn to disaster.
This is what happened to David and Barbara
Ellis with their property White Horses on
the Old Martello Road in Pevensey Bay
Having your home beside
the sea sounds idyllic – but when the sea
comes knocking on your door then your dream
can turn to disaster.
This is what happened
to David and Barbara Ellis with their property
White Horses on the Old Martello Road in
Pevensey Bay in Eastbourne, when a winter
storm combined with a high tide severely
damaged their property.
“Past development on
the coastline has created an increasing
pressure for coastal and flood protection
in the area,” says Les Norman, Development
Control Officer for the Environment Agency
in Kent and East Sussex. “Sea levels are
currently rising, possibly at an accelerated
rate due to global warming – there is a
forecast sea rise of approximately 1 metre
at this location over the next 100 years.”
The storms that did
the damage to White Horses happened on 3
December two years ago. The house, around
100 years old, had been damaged in previous
years [Editors: photos of the property damaged
down the years are available from the Press
Office].
The Environment Agency
met with the owners and their insurance
assessors to discuss the possibility of
repairs and rebuilding and encouraged them
to consider what they should do with forecasts
of climate change and sea level rise and
to look at the options for retreat or resiting.
Barbara said: “The advice
we had from the Environment Agency was very
helpful. Rather than repair the damaged
building we decided to go for planning permission
and resite a completely new replacement
home as far inland as possible as suggested.”
David and Barbara wanted
to build a more eco-friendly house – greener
and adapting to climate change. The new
home was featured in the BBC’s Inside Out
programme. It incorporates measures recommended
by the Environment Agency to prevent flooding
such as: deep-piled foundations; raised
floor levels ( one-metre higher than existing
ones) ; shutters on sea-facing windows;
and raised electrics.
“Our new home was finally
completed last August,” said Barbara. “Prefabricated,
it came over to us from Europe by lorry
and the final cost was £148,000. We
feel safe and sound at last - after years
of worry.”
Britain’s largest water
company prosecuted for 5km river pollution
Thames Water handed down a £125,000
fine after polluting the River Wandle and
undoing 20 years of river restoration work
in one day
+ More
Thames Water wipes out
20 years of painstaking river restoration
in one day
A water company whose
careless operational practices decimated
the aquatic life in an iconic urban river
has today, Monday 26 January, been fined
£125,000 and ordered to pay £21,335
in clean up and investigation costs.
Thames Water Utilities
Limited, Britain’s largest water company,
pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to
allowing a large quantity of industrial
strength chlorine to spill into the River
Wandle from its Beddington Sewage Treatment
Works near Mitcham, South London in September
2007.
It took three days for
Environment Agency officers, helped by members
of the Wandle Trust and local angling clubs,
to remove some two tonnes of dead fish from
the river. An experienced Environment Agency
officer at the scene said that it was the
worst pollution incident he had ever dealt
with.
Croydon Crown Court
heard that on 17 September 2007 Environment
Agency officers received reports from local
residents and anglers of hundreds of dead
and distressed fish in the River Wandle
in the Mitcham area. The residents also
reported a strong smell of chlorine, and
the water turning a milky colour. Local
people along the river attempted to rescue
some of the distressed fish by transferring
them from the river into buckets of clean
water, but they were too late. One local
man rescued a large number of eels, but
found they were bleeding from the gills
and they all later died.
The pollution spread
downstream for nearly 5km and had a catastrophic
impact, killing the majority of the fish
in the river, including chub, roach, dace,
gudgeon, barbel and eel. It also bleached
and killed much of the normally green vegetation
that grows along the channel bed. It affected
the Wandle’s highly valued recreational
areas such as Poulter Park, Ravensbury Park
and the National Trust site at Morden Hall
Park.
The River Wandle is
a well known chalk stream and tributary
of the River Thames that flows through parts
of Mitcham, Morden, Wimbledon and Wandsworth
in South West London, cutting a green swathe
through these heavily urbanised areas. Historically
the river has suffered extreme pollution
and was officially declared a sewer in the
1960s. But over the last 20 years it has
become a vibrant rich habitat due to better
environmental regulation, a fish stocking
programme and huge local enthusiasm for
the river which has resulted in a vast improvement
of water quality.
Before the pollution
in 2007 the Wandle had become well known
as one of the best urban coarse fisheries
in the country which supports wide a variety
of species. It could take up to 10 years
for the river to fully recover and the fish
stocks to return to pre- incident standards.
Handing down the fine
at Croydon Crown Court Ms Recorder Wickham
described the incident as “a 5km tragedy
for the River Wandle”.
Environment Officer
Peter Ehmann – who was one of the first
on the scene, said: “This pollution effectively
wiped out 20 years of painstaking restoration
work on the River Wandle. For many years
individuals and organisations, including
the Environment Agency and the Wandle Trust,
have achieved great improvements to water
quality and aquatic life in the Wandle.
This incident is a major set back to all
their hard work.”
A Thames Water Utilities
Director was formally interviewed by Environment
Agency officers on the 28 November 2007
and confirmed that sodium hypochlorite (chlorine)
was released from Beddington Sewage Treatment
Works during a cleaning operation of the
tertiary treatment plant.
A Thames Water scientist
on site noticed the strong smell of chlorine
in the outlet channel and instructed the
staff cleaning the plant to stop their work,
before informing the site manager. The site
manager decided that ‘very limited damage’
would occur to the environment and they
would deal with the incident internally.
The Environment Agency was not informed.
It was not until members of the public reported
the incident to Thames Water more than an
hour and a quarter later that they realised
the severity of the pollution.
After the sentencing
Mr Ehmann said: “We are pleased that the
court has recognised the gravity of this
incident and hope that other operators to
ensure they have appropriate procedures
in place to better protect their local environment
and community.”
Ed Mitchell, Head of
Environmental Protection regulation at the
Environment Agency said: “A pollution incident
of this size and nature is rare now due
to tighter and more effective environmental
legislation, regulation and greater public
awareness of the environment. However, we
still take rigorous enforcement action against
any company polluting the environment, no
matter how large or small the scale of the
incident. We successfully prosecuted 176
companies in 2008, totaling over £2
million in fines. We successfully prosecuted
209 individuals; including 19 company directors.”
"The Environment
Agency is putting pressure on water companies
in England and Wales to invest more in maintenance
to improve the environment and reduce the
risk of pollution incidents. In 2007, water
companies were responsible for one fifth
of all serious pollution incidents – many
of which were caused by poorly maintained,
overloaded or ageing sewerage infrastructure."
In sentencing Thames
Water the Court took into account the company’s
early guilty plea and its work with the
Environment Agency on the River Wandle since
the incident.
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Thames Water Utilities
Ltd appeared at Sutton Magistrates’ Court
on Thursday 4 December 2008 and pleaded
guilty to a single count of causing polluting
matter, namely sodium hypochlorite, to enter
controlled waters on 17th September 2007
contrary to sections 85(1) and 85(6) of
the Water Resources Act 1991. The sodium
hypochlorite entered the Beddington Main
Effluent Carrier (MEC) from the Defendant’s
Beddington Sewage Treatment Works (STW)
before entering the River Wandle, a tributary
of the River Thames.
Thames Water reported
an annual turnover in 2008 of £165.818million.
The fine imposed represents less than 0.1%
of the company’s annual turnover.
Thames Water has been
prosecuted on many occasions by the Environment
Agency, although there have been no pollution
incidents from Beddington Sewage Works which
have previously resulted in prosecution.
However, the company does have several previous
convictions, which arose from accidents
involving chemicals at other sewage works.
The River Wandle supports
a great variety of wildlife including chub,
barbel and eel, it is also a very popular
location for walkers. The popularity of
the River Wandle has seen groups such as
the Wandle Trust set up, whose purpose is
to preserve the wildlife and habitat that
it supports.
Significant Environment
Agency resources were deployed in the investigation
and the cleanup of the incident. At the
height of the incident 11 environment officers
were on site.
Since the incident,
Thames Water has pledged £500,000
over a five year period to support local
environmental improvements and has paid
compensation to local angling clubs of around
£10,000.
Environment Agency statement
on launch of Severn Tidal Power Feasibility
Study shortlist
Lord Chris Smith responds to the launch
of the Government's public consultation
on the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study
Responding to the launch
of the Government’s public consultation
on the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study,
Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment
Agency, said:
"The Government
has ambitious and essential targets on renewable
energy generation and harnessing the tidal
power of the Severn Estuary could help to
achieve them.
"The rivers
Severn, Wye and Usk also include important
ecological sites and protected species,
and are some of the most important fishing
rivers in Britain. The study must identify
schemes that are environmentally-sensitive,
but also help us meet renewable energy targets.
The Environment Agency will assess the environmental
impacts of the proposed options and provide
expert advice to the study."
