Update on Kings Dyke pollution incident.
Like many local residents, I was deeply concerned about the serious pollution incident impacting Kings Dyke in Whittlesey and have been working with the local council, the Environment Agency and Anglian Water to ensure there is an appropriate response.
The Environment Agency has confirmed they are treating this as potentially a “Category 1” incident, which is where there is a serious, persistent or extensive impact on the environment. Both the Environment Agency and Anglian Water accept significant numbers of fish have been killed.
Anglian Water accept that a pump failure occurred at their Stanground site. However, they have not disclosed for how long, and I will continue to press them for more details.
Anglian Water contractors have deployed three aeration units to improve oxygen levels for the fish, and the Environment Agency will continue to monitor the area.
Environment Agency staff have been on site each day from Monday 23rd Sept including yesterday. They have taken water tests, with staff finding very low oxygen and slightly elevated levels of ammonia. The ammonia levels may have been diluted by the heavy rainfall over that weekend.
The evidence gathered by the Environment Agency will inform a decision taken by their enforcement panel on whether to prosecute. This can take up to a month.
When I was Secretary of State for the Environment, we began a consultation to ban any water company from paying a bonus to their senior executives if responsible for a category 1 level pollution incident (https://www.gov.uk/.../government-cracks-down-on-bonuses...). That remains my view, and I would like to see this implemented by the new Government.
On the mechanical failure, we need clarity from Anglian Water on when this occurred, for how long, and the amounts of sewage discharged due to this failure.
As a result of changes the last Government made, storm overflows are required to be fully monitored so Anglian Water should publish this information quickly.
In particular, we need to clarify whether the location of the lowest oxygen levels in the water is because the sewage drifted downstream of the Stanground site, which seems both likely and explains why the lowest levels of oxygen are not close to the Stanground site.
Likewise in theory other sources may discharge into this water, but no evidence has been presented to me of another possible cause of pollution at this scale. The tests from the Environment Agency should help confirm the cause of the dead fish and the results should be published quickly.
The Environment Agency should also publish any permit(s) that apply to Anglian Water regarding the operation of the Stanground site, and specifically any terms applying to mechanical failure.
Finally, the new Chief Executive of Anglian Water has not made any comment so far, which is surprising, and he should now set out a detailed explanation.
I will continue to press for the toughest action to be taken against those that pollute our waters.
