Birmingham mainline canal

#21

Hope it dont spread any further down the W&E

#22

TK the stop planks are being put in at the snede tonite just hope it stops it our lads an E A doing the best thay can as a match angler this as been my worst week at work ever getting dead fish out every day NOT NICE TO SEE

#23

Its not nice to see all those dead fish :(

#24

the stop planks are being put in at the snede

Didnt realise it had got that far Kev P

this as been my worst week at work ever

Must be heart breaking

but thanks for all of your efforts trying to minimise the disaster

#25

thaks

babward · #26

Latest notice brom British Waterways:

Wyrley Essington canal closure This is to inform you of an emergency overnight stoppage from this evening (07.10.11) in the Short Heath area on the Wyrley & Essington Canal between Horseley Fields Junction and the Sneyd. The hours of the closure will be 7 pm until 7.30 am tomorrow morning. This is due to a plug of pollution which is moving around the system. We need to do this so the feed on the Wolverhampton Locks can pull the pollution toward it for treatment. Apologies for inconvenience. British WaterwaysWest Midlands Region

#27

Reports of dead fish has now reached Willenhall, looking very very bad for the rest of the wryley.

#28

Any news on the staffs worcester

#29

Reports of dead fish has now reached Willenhall, looking very very bad for the rest of the wryley.

Perhaps Kev P may be able to tell us more, but I understand the canal in the Short Heath area has been netted today and a considerable amount of fish transferred elsewhere to what is considered a safe haven in the network

#30

spoke today to ea stafs worc is ok not going past snede on wyrley doing fish recue their got oxegen levels back up their should be now dead fish past the planks at the snede all being well

#31

their should be now dead fish past the planks at the snede all being wel

Fingers crossed Kev P

babward · #32

To keep you fishermen uptodate you might like to read the following from Dean Davies the area manager for British waterways, written yesterday. It is rather long but will give you a better understanding of why the whole matter was handled in the way it was. The local boating organisations have been as alarmed as you have and have been continually making suitable enquiries. I have highlighted parts that may be of particular interest to you.

The fire was started by arsonists at an industrial unit adjacent to the Mainline Canal on Tuesday 27th September. What many people will not know is that British Waterways (BW) and the Environment Agency (EA) started dissolved oxygen testing the next day along that stretch of canal and found nothing that was of any concern.
On Friday 30th September we received the first reports of (a relatively small number of) fish dying. Between Tuesday and Friday we continued to pump water from Bradley and had done nothing to stem the movement of the pollution – because the testing had indicated there wasn't any. During this time the plug of pollution had three to four days to move up as far as Wolverhampton and around on to the Wyrley & Essington Canal.

Over the weekend of 1st & 2nd October the number of fish killed increased dramatically – despite the attempt to oxygenate the water and douse the pollutants with peroxide. By Monday 3rd October both the EA and BW were still convinced the aeration and peroxide treatments would work – it had worked in the past and there were no reasons to doubt it would this time around.

As a result of the factory fire, a range of detergents have entered the canal. Essentially what this has done is stripped the oxygen out of the water. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) was very high on the last set of water samples. The COD is a measure of how much oxygen is required to break down the pollutants. As there has been a vast quantity of chemicals which have polluted the canal, all of the available oxygen within the water is going into breaking those pollutants down which is why there is less oxygen available for fish and as a result, the fish are dying. The hydrogen peroxide dosing and the aerators are working to combat the COD problem which I have outlined above.

By Wednesday 5th October, despite our best efforts the plug had spread further up the Wyrley. During discussions the topic of installing stop planks had been raised. However both organisations still felt that the pollution could be controlled without stopping navigation. Furthermore there was a risk that fish would be trapped against the stop planks without a means of escape. Finally by putting in stop planks it might restrict the movement of the planned peroxide dousing by boat.

Following further discussions we did installed stop planks overnight on the Wyley on Friday night. There was a stoppage notice issued along these lines. After agreement with the EA these were removed on Saturday morning for the aforementioned reasons.

Yesterday fish became trapped in Holly Bank Basin on the Wyrley. A fish rescue is a complex operation that requires careful planning. Our two fishery teams have been on site today (Monday) to remove fish from the canal near Rough Wood Country Park, and from Holly Bank Basin. The complex nature of a fish rescue meant that there were not sufficient staff on site over the weekend to undertake this type of operation. By attempting a fish rescue without proper planning we can make matters worse (agitation of sediments on the bed of the canal) further adding to the poor conditions for fish. Holly Bank Basin was aerated to provide oxygenated water to help the fish. Today we have rescued over two tonnes of fish from Holly Bank Basin, and have been returning them to the canal at Pelsall. This is really good news in what otherwise has been a difficult time for everyone.

There is the possibility that some fish did die :( and they may start to float to the surface in the next few days, so people should try not to be alarmed by this.

Since the beginning of last week we have been working 7:00 am to 7:00 pm each and every day to resolve the problem. Last night the teams were working until 10pm. Signage has been out at various points along the canal from Saturday morning, advising customers and warning of the risks.

From today stop planks have been installed at the Sneyd, which are likely to remain in place for some time. The EA are dousing the canal between Holly Bank basin and the Sneyd, i.e. in front of the main plug of pollution. Experts within both organisations are in agreement that this is still the best way to deal with the pollution in the canal.

The plan from this evening is to pump the pollutant into the foul sewer, and have Bradley pumps running to supplement the water loss. Hopefully this, with the continued aeration and peroxide dousing will resolve the problem much quicker.

I realise this has been a very difficult time for all concerned. Nobody, not least employees within the Environment Agency or British Waterways, wants to see this sort of tragedy, and I understand the emotion surrounding the events as they have unravelled. Efforts now need to focus on removing the pollution and returning this stretch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations back to normal for everyone to enjoy.

Dean Davies
Waterway manager

cheslynboy · #33

Thankyou for keeping us informed

#34

Top work, least some fish are being saved

AdSlade · #35

Very informative post, sounds like a lot of hard work going into trying to control this!

babward · #36

Latest news on the Wyrley & Essington pollution problem. An enormous amount of work is taking place to save as many fish as possible.

It's good to see there is positive progress!

[size=12]"BW have spent the last couple of days undertaking a fish rescue at Holly Bank Basin, where a significant amount of fish have been rescued – well over a couple of tonnes, which is great news. Today our contractors joined forces with EA staff to help them rescue fish from in front of the pollution plug, between Bentley Wharf Bridge and the Sneyd. Again a significant number of fish have been saved so far from this area – well over a tonne. The fish rescue will continue tomorrow. It is apparent that the fish that moved in front of the pollution have become concentrated in a small area. The amount of fish rescued in the short section near Sneyd Junction is equivalent to the population that would normally be found in over 6 kilometres of canal.

All day the EA have been pumping out the polluted water from the canal into the foul sewer, and they will continue to do this overnight and for the foreseeable future. BW have spent the day trying to get an old sluice working so we can help move the polluted water out of the canal. The good news is that initial readings indicate that dissolved oxygen (DO) levels are improving along the Wyrley & Essington Canal, so all the effort seems to be working. The EA will continue to monitor the DO and will carry on pumping polluted water until they are satisfied the canal can re-opened with no risk to the fish population. BW aerators are still in place at Lane Head Bridge, and the EA are still placing hydrogen peroxide in the canal at the Sneyd. BW have the two large pumps running at Bradley to replenish the water that is being pumped out of the Wyrley.

I think that's about it for now, but I'll give you another update when we have any significant news."

Regards - Dean Davies[/size]

#37

Thanks for all the updates

#38

Latest info re:Wyrley and Essington Canal recovery
Monday, 17 October 2011 13:42
THE massive contamination of the Wyrley and Essington Canal and Old Main Line is showing sign of recovery in the fight to contain pollution.

It was the fire at factories by the waterways, started by arsonists, that caused a massive amount of chemicals to be released into the water that caused the death of thousands of fish, and the level to be lowered as fresh water was run through.

22,000 fish rescued

The combined efforts of the Environment Agency and British Waterways have rescued an estimated 22,000 fish from the contaminated canals as its water is being pumped to Minworth Sewage Treatment Works and chemicals are being added to re-oxygenate the water.

Deep draughted boats

With the lowered levels, deep draughted boats are still being advised to steer clear of the area, though others are getting through with little problem.

Sections of waterway effected are the Old Main Line canal, between Wolverhampton and Short Heath, and the Wyrley & Essington Canal, which runs for almost 16 miles from Wolverhampton to Brownhills.

babward · #39

Latest update on the Wyrley & Essington Canal from Dean Davies, Area Manager for British Waterways. Things are looking good - well better than last week at least!

Quick update. Canal is now fully open with all stop planks out. This was done yesterday. Might be the odd few EA guys around dealing with the last bit of pollution – albeit small scale. They have closed down their incident team on this matter now, so it should be minimal. We are getting a team out – probably contractors – to do a sweep of the canals to collect the dead fish over the course of the next few days. This will hopefully deal with a number of complaints we might have got from the public. The clean–up has to be seen to be done properly with the resources we have at hand, so I have stressed the importance of this. However there will no doubt be some fish that are inevitably missed – but we will do our best. The environment team within BW are looking at the opportunity to recover costs, but I stress that this is not certain. As it is arson we may be limited in our ability to recover costs, but again that doesn’t stop us trying. Over 100,000 fish were rescued from the Wyrley and Essington Canal during the recent contamination incident and moved to other stretches of waterway not affected by the pollution plug. We are hoping that these fish over time will naturally make their way back to affected stretches of canal where they were removed from. In the meantime we will continue to monitor fish numbers to determine if any other actions, such as fish restocking, is required. Regards - Dean

babward · #40

This is likely to be the last update on the pollution problem on the Wyrley & Essington Canal.
We as the BCN Society feel that British Waterways has done a very good job under extremely difficult circumstances and should be complimented on thier efficient work with the Environment Agency.

Dean Davies, the local area manager for British Waterways sent this following report today:-

"All is good apart from the removal of the dead fish. We are getting a contractor to do a sweep of the area starting Monday next week. They’ll be on site two to three days clearing any carcasses they come across. Once that’s done everything should be back to normal.

We’ll keep an eye on fish numbers and take a decision on the need to restock based on that assessment. This will be led by the fisheries team. We are establishing costs and will be doing our best to recover what we can."