Thames Water Admits polluting the River Ash on 8th August

Admin Posts : 513 Join date : 2009-12-27

THAMES Water has admitted it deliberately released a toxic flood into the River Ash.....

http://www.stainesnews.co.uk/staines-and-ashford-news/news-staines-and-ashford/2010/08/18/warning-to-stay-away-from-river-54472-27087096/

From the EA

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/122327.aspx

The more I read on this story it gets worse. So TW had to release the contamination

"Although our processes have removed it (from the drinking water), the plant that deals with the leftover algae was overloaded, leaving us with no option but to discharge it to the River Ash.

"We could not stop this as to do so would have meant shutting down the water works, which supplies 30 per cent of London. We are really sorry for this."

You would think that there would be a contingency for such an event in a hot summer, once again our rivers suffer. Surely with such massive treament works, they would be able to just siphon this off rather than dumping it. I have no idea if it did get as far as the Thames but will endavour to find out.

this has really annoyed me - i fish the ash all the time !! dont look like ill be going back there anytime soon ! had some half decent pike from there the last few years , and the roach fishing was superb , some of the best ive ever had , lots of small ones but every now and then you get a goodun , i had a handful over the last two seasons upwards of 1.5lb .

This is a tragedy, the Ash is a great little river. A mate of mine once had 8 different species in a single short session trotting maggots on a stretch just upstream of where this happened.

Will Fish Legal be able to do anything as there are no clubs involved in this stretch?

That is a very good question and will let you know. As it is not club controlled I am not exactly sure.

Such a crying shame and totaly avoidable.

Posts : 2152 Join date : 2010-01-21

the only point in contacting thames water would be to find out, what they put in the river, we know what that is, and we know thames water aint never gonna stop poisoning our rivers,
chris our conservation officer will be liasing with the EA in order to find out more, and if prosecution/compensation is probable we will pursue it with our full vigour

Posts : 209 Join date : 2010-04-09

This weeks Mail reported it discharged into the Thames at Sunbury Creek (the FPS stretch). Any confirmation of this chaps? Fish Legal would I'm sure be interested. Any Angling Trust member can file the report, I'd be happy to do so unless already done?

I asked a friend who lives locally what he knew about it and this was his reply -

The source was the outflow at Nutty Lane. The water board treated the blue algae in the reservoir at Ashford Common. This makes it sink and they then drain it out from the bottom. It is supposed to be filtered before discharge to the Ash. They didn't filter it and it turned the Ash green/blue. Killed all the fish between Nutty Lane and the Creek, where it joins the Thames.

Some good fish as well, loads of chub some at least 6+. Big bream, a few close to double figures! Thousands of small fish, eels, lots of perch (up to 2lbs) a few barbel and loads of small pike and one of about 12 that I saw. Even some brown trout!!!

I think Feltham have the Creek on their books so lets hope that they are members of the Angling Trust

Posts : 2152 Join date : 2010-01-21

I would suggest that all AT members file a report, irrespective of whether any club or individual has, the greater the voice the further it travels
our club due to recent events has taken a while to join the AT, one of the problems was, were we to join as a club or a consultative, it was eventually decided by AT to be a consultative, the paperwork and cheque were posted last week
in a nutshell, our conservation officer is on the case, we're trying to get as many details as possible, but it all takes time, experience shows it'll happen again, somewhere else and sometime soon, we need the laws to be harsher and the penalties scary, then it might become a rare occurence, not a regular one

Posts : 209 Join date : 2010-04-09

Good idea Jim, I sent the e mail this morning.

As I was fishing a lake right next to the Ash today, I was wondering if the EA did any re-stocking of this lovely little river? I haven't heard anything about whether the case went to court or was it all just hushed over?

It normally takes over a year to get to court, I will ask the question of the EA

Thanks David.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2011-10-06

I learnt to fish on this river as a kid as it runs behind my mums house I remember the polution spill well the EA were coming out with bags full of chub, also common carp, I used to fish for the chub and carp I am sure that some of the common carp were wild carp, it always amazed me how big the chub and carp were for such a tiny river, i have walked the river and looked in all the places were the carp were, it is now a dead river heart braking really, my question is how will this river be restocked?