Pollution or not?

thecrow · Oct 8, 2016

This is the river Anker that flows through Nuneaton in Warwickshire,

People have been commenting on a local history facebook page that it is a very strange colour its also quite high and we have had no rain to raise the level.

I have reported it as a possible pollution incident to the EA, anyone else think this is a strange colour for any river to be?

PS I was given an incident number and asked to phone back in 2 weeks to check if anything had been done.

mikench · Oct 8, 2016

I assume it contains fish and is a river you frequent! It certainly looks a funny colour ,like dishwater and again I assume it is normally a different colour .

It could be disastrous in two weeks if it is a pollution spill. Ask all the corvids to keep an eye on it!

robtherake · Oct 8, 2016

Looks seriously ropey to me. It has a soapy appearance to it, if you know what I mean, like washing up water that someone dumped a full cup of tea in.

binka · Oct 8, 2016

I'm used to seeing it upriver in Tamworth Graham and that picture looks as though something is wrong.

A sly discharge from somewhere when they think the river is low enough to accommodate it and few enough people out and about to notice it?

I think you did well questioning it and reporting it.

thecrow · Oct 8, 2016

mikench said:
I assume it contains fish and is a river you frequent! It certainly looks a funny colour ,like dishwater and again I assume it is normally a different colour .

It could be disastrous in two weeks if it is a pollution spill. Ask all the corvids to keep an eye on it!

Not somewhere I fish Mike but it does contain the odd fish in this area with more towards the downstream end of it, odd thing is that despite there not having been any rain in this area the river is quiet high.

Couldn't be that someone has been secretly fracking in the area could it

binka · Oct 8, 2016

thecrow said:
Couldn't be that someone has been secretly fracking in the area could it

No way, absolutely not a chance.

It's totally the wrong colour for fracking discharge...

greenie62 · Oct 8, 2016

thecrow said:
..... I was given an incident number and asked to phone back in 2 weeks to check if anything had been done.

The really annoying thing is when you phone back and they refuse to tell you who the polluter is - because it's "sub judice".
We had an incident last week on a local river that has an input from the UU Treatment works - 100s of dead fish including roach, dace and chub to 2lb within 200m of the input.
EA: "No idea who caused it!"

mg: - and if we did we can't say!

no-one in particular · Oct 9, 2016

Worth reporting Crow, as you say people don't know and don't think unlike us anglers.
Hard to discern the colour in the pic, any dead fish spotted? Has there been rain in the hills the past few days where the river originates? Other than that its probably pollution of some sort I would think.

theartist · Oct 9, 2016

I fished that river in the summer and when doing a bit of research before my trip I stumbled across a pollution incident in Nuneaton a few years back so it has 'history'

Well done Crow for the report let's hope it's nothing serious, we''ll wait with a sceptical baited breath like you will I think to what sort of response you're going to get when you phone back.

Keith M · Oct 9, 2016

Worth trying to find the stretch where it begins to take on this colour as some companies are granted licences to discharge their effluent directly into the rivers or into ditches draining into a river.

Our estate lake was being polluted with oxygen depleted water from a company who had been granted a licence to discharge their waste water into a stream that fed into our lake; and whenever their biological filters failed to work (because the microbes in the filter used to die when the cold temperatures arrived) we got large slugs of oxygen depleted water and biological detergents washing through our lake killing a lot of our fish.

We got the ACA involved and also threatened to publicise the pollution in the press (as the water authorities were not going to take much action) and the company involved (not wanting to be named and shamed) decided to do something about it.

So it might be a company who has been granted a licence to expell their treated waste water into a feeder ditch or stream.
If you can locate where it starts you might be able to get it stopped (we did).

Keith

thecrow · Oct 12, 2016

Well I have contacted the EA in an attempt to speak to the officer who had been given responsibility for investigating this incident, I was unable to speak to him on the 3 occasions that I rang being told by whoever I was speaking to that they would pass my details on and that the officer would ring me back, I am still waiting for the call to come.

Yet another reason for my dislike of the EA and another reason why I believe that they have no time for angling/ anglers unless it means receiving cash from them, I wont be bothering to report anything else I may see as life is to short to be wasting time on those that don't do what they are paid for.

The river has returned to its normal colour.

mikench · Oct 12, 2016

A waste of time all round and demotivating! It is like calling the police about an affray or a burglary or some other suspicious activity, they are not interested and almost want you to do your job for them. But heaven forbid, if you use unreasonable force, exceed the speed limits or the poor suspicious burglar complains, you will be prosecuted.

I have a few farmer friends who have a similar view of the EA - largely useless!

You did the right thing and it is they who let you down!

lutra · Oct 12, 2016

mikench said:
I have a few farmer friends who have a similar view of the EA - largely useless!

I can quite understand farmers not liking the EA much. Many farmers don't seem to care to much about what ends up in the local river just what money they can make.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Oct 12, 2016

thecrow said:
Well I have contacted the EA in an attempt to speak to the officer who had been given responsibility for investigating this incident, I was unable to speak to him on the 3 occasions that I rang being told by whoever I was speaking to that they would pass my details on and that the officer would ring me back, I am still waiting for the call to come.

Yet another reason for my dislike of the EA and another reason why I believe that they have no time for angling/ anglers unless it means receiving cash from them, I wont be bothering to report anything else I may see as life is to short to be wasting time on those that don't do what they are paid for.

The river has returned to its normal colour.

Next time tell they you've seen trout and maybe even salmon in the stretch of river and see how quickly they react

laguna · Oct 12, 2016

You know what it reminds me of?
Water found down a blocked drain!

Pollution or not?

thecrow

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mikench

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robtherake

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binka

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thecrow

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binka

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greenie62

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no-one in particular

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theartist

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Keith M

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thecrow

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mikench

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lutra

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Lord Paul of Sheffield

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laguna

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