The incident has caused outrage in the picturesque market town (Image: Getty)
Residents of a pretty market town have expressed outrage after the deaths of hundreds of fish in a river following a “category one” sewage leak alert.
Around 900 fish are believed to have perished in King’s Dyke in , Cambridgeshire, after a malfunction led to Anglian Water’s pumping station discharging sewage for 23 hours constantly over the weekend of September 22.
The Environment Agency classed it as a category one incident, the most severe, which means it has a serious, extensive, or persistent impact on the environment, people, or property.
But, there remains mystery over whether another pollutant could have led to the deaths.
Roach, pike and perch were among the dead fish, with hundreds of their bodies floating in the river.
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Roy Bridson, vice-president of Whittlesey Association, told the I he believes sewage was the cause.
He said: “This is about the third time in three years that we’ve had pollution. It’s absolutely disgusting. I’ve got children that fish the river after school and on weekends.
“Plus we have national fishing matches on it. It’s a lot of sporting activity, kayaking, waterboarding and it just destroys the river. Even the swans disappeared, and the ducks, because they didn’t want to get ill.”
Residents living near Kings Dyke said they felt “angry and sick” and said the sewage also caused a foul odour and discoloured water.
About 900 fish are believed to have died (Image: BBC)
Many reported not seeing any live fish in the last week. Nikki Jackson found several dead fish at the bottom of her garden, branding it “very disappointing.”
Only now was it beginning to clear, she added: “Over the past days, the condition of the water has slightly improved – don’t know if it’s because they [Anglian Water] have pumped something to clear it or it’s the rain, but the odour has improved as well,” she said.
But, Anglian Water claims its own investigations found other potential sources of pollution in the area.
The firm, which has a poor track record for sewage leaks, said its storm overflow had operated as permitted during heavy rainfall, but that it later found evidence of an oil slick close to one outfall, and high levels of ammonia at a second.
It said there were also more than eight additional outfalls owned by others on the same stretch of water.
A company spokesperson said: “We are taking it very seriously, and were working throughout the weekend alongside the Environment Agency and other agencies to investigate what has happened.
“We’ve been very open that our storm overflow operated as permitted during such heavy rainfall.
“However, this does not necessarily mean our asset activity resulted in the impact on the watercourse.
“Since the initial event we’ve found several other potential sources of pollution which do not belong to Anglian Water.”
Some residents said they had not seen live fish for a week (Image: BBC)
Steve Barclay, shadow environment secretary and Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said he was “deeply concerned”.
He also said Anglian Water’s response was “inadequate” and called for “clarity” on when the pump failure occurred and on the amounts of sewage discharged due to this.
He also pointed to the fact that he has not been shown any evidence of any other possible cause of pollution on the same scale.
He said: “The tests from the Environment Agency should help confirm the cause of the dead fish and the results should be published quickly.”