Oil and ammonia found on dead fish dyke

A water company investigating the death of around 900 fish in a dyke said it had found other potential sources of pollution in the area.

Residents living near Kings Dyke in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, said last week they felt “angry and sick” over the incident and claimed raw sewage was the cause of the foul odor and discolored water.

The Environment Agency said Anglian Water’s pumping station had been discharging for 23 hours in what it described as a “category one incident”.

Anglian Water said its overflow had worked as designed during heavy rain, but it found evidence of an oil slick near one outlet and high levels of ammonia at another.

“Deeply concerned”

Resident Nikki Jackson, who had a pile of dead fish at the bottom of her garden, described the incident as “disappointing”.

“Over the last few days the condition of the water has improved slightly – I don’t know if it’s because they (Anglian Water) pumped something out to clean it or if it’s the rain , but the smell has also improved,” she said.

Steve Barclay, shadow environment secretary and Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said he was “deeply concerned” and described Anglian Water’s response as “inadequate”.

He called for “more clarity” on when the pump failure occurred and how much wastewater was released because of it.

He said no evidence of any other possible cause of pollution on this scale had been presented to him.

“Environment Agency tests should confirm the cause of the dead fish and the results should be published quickly,” he added.

Anglian Water said there were more than eight additional outfalls not owned by it on the affected water body.

A spokesperson said: “We take this very seriously and have worked throughout the weekend alongside the Environment Agency and other agencies to investigate what happened.

“We have been very open about the fact that our storm overflow worked as designed during such heavy rains.

“However, this does not necessarily mean that our activity on the assets has had an impact on the watercourse.

“Since the first event, we have discovered several other potential sources of pollution which do not belong to Anglian Water.”

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