I heard a snippet on the local news today, Monday, about a pollution incident on the river Ribble, but haven't heard anything since.

Has anyone any more info on this?

Cheers Gaz.

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Not heard any other news yet!

I was up on thr Ribble this afternoon.

Further information from a member of the Ribble Fisheries Consultative is that there have been 3 separate cases of pollution, all of which have been caused by the deliberate dumping of waste from a tanker down a storm drain.

The substance, yet to be identified, then entered one of the becks and tributaries of the river. The E.A managed to catch part of the second pollution and contained it, only for the tanker to return a few days later to exactly the same storm drain and empty another tanker load of pollution into the drain... which this time, due the amount, then overran the barriers the E.A had put in place!

The E.A removed 5 or 6 tankers worth of contaminated substance / water, but a large amount of it has disappeared and could be working it's way down river... possibly with further tragic consequences!

Unfortunatly the tributary and a large area of the upper Ribble was affected, resulting in dead game fish everywhere!

The member of the Consultative (who was praticaly in tears as he explained what had been happening) estimates that £500,000 worth of damage has now been caused to the tributary, upper river fisheries and spawning grounds, in addition to the tragic loss of massive amounts of salmon and sea trout, etc.

It beggars belief that someone is so stupid and has a blatent disregard for the environment and the law, to carry out such a deliberate act. It was no accident!

Lets hope the police, ACA and the Ribble Consultative can catch the idiotic offender, and if he has a business, that any licences he may have are withdrawn, along with his tanker being confiscated.

Bring back capital punishment!

unfortunately fines for 'environmental' crime are still woefully inadequate when considering the clean up and long term damage costs. The situation will not get better until there is clear traceability for all waste shipments throughout the chain of custody. In todays system a waste producer can hand over a shipment to a company they believe are legitimate, they get a copy of their transfer note to say where the material (solid or liquid) is going and that, they believe is the end of it. In fact the waste producers duty of care technically goes all the way to the point it is no longer classified as waste, so all the way to disposal or reprocessing. This hasn't actually been implemented in practice in the UK.

Until a transparent chain of custody exists and environmental fines are treated by the legal system with more weight (read profit seizure, closure of all of their business operations etc.) this sort of thing will continue to happen.

Malcolm

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Hi Malcolm,

I agree with you totally, with regards a trasnparent chain of custody. I was calling for something similar to be introduced about 10 years ago!

Maybe the ACA, ST & A, NAA, etc, can start to apply pressure at Govt level?

Moustique.........
have you any idea of the areas that are effected?

Gaz

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I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.

Hi Gaz,

The last I heard earlier in the week, was that it was in the Grindleton and Brungerly area, and slowly moving down the main river, but originally it was not diluting and continuing to kill fish.

The "block" of the substance could be anywhere by now?

The only positive thing was the extra rain we have had, it may help to dilute and break down whatever caused the problem?

I'm fishing at Mitton on Wednesday,I'll let you know.

Gaz

__________________
I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.

Here is copy of the report that is going in next months Trout & Salmon

Two major pollution incidents occurred in the river Ribble and one of its main spawning tributaries over the last week in July. A large quantity of used cooking oil, raw batter, and a detergent was deliberately disposed of down the same surface water drain off the A59 near Sawley. This substance then ran down the drains, into a ditch and then on into Swanside beck before dispersing very slowly down the main river for over five miles, killing many fish.


With the river already suffering from low flows and oxygen levels it could not have come at a worst time. This substance removed most of the oxygen left in the water.The pollution slug was contained in Brungerley deeps where the E.A. installed five large pumps to try to increase the oxygen levels, these pumps were working continually night and day until the oxygen levels reached over 75% . The total number of dead fish counted was 1200 but this figure can be safely doubled as many fish would never be seen on the bottom of the deeper pools. The fish counted were mostly game fish with sea trout up to 14lbs and the rest in the 4-8lb range, some precious spring salmon were lost, as were many brown trout , grayling, and salmon parr.

This incident is not the first, as three weeks previous a similar incident took place only three miles further along the A59, the same substance was emptied down another surface water drain where it emptied into Barrow brook killing many fish, but, due to the actions of the E.A's pollution officers.
this was stopped from entering the main river.

This incident has left the members of two major game fishing clubs and two smaller ones very angry They are hopeful that,and from early ecological tests being carried out by the E.A. the invertebrate life in this part of the river has not been too badly effected.
This incident was first discovered by the local farmer Mr. Alan Parker from Smithies bridge who alerted the authorities and tried to stem the flow himself. The E.A.have been requested to send a letter of thanks to Mr.
Parker.

This sounds like a serial offender and they may do it again - clearly vigilence is needed to try and catch them!