05/04/2005 - The Environment
Agency has taken steps to tackle pollution
and litter problems in Whitehaven Harbour.
The Agency, working with Whitehaven Harbour
Commission and Whitehaven Development Company,
has installed an oil boom – a kind of floating
barrier which traps oil and debris.
Situated below the culverted outfall in the
harbour’s Queen’s Town Dock, the boom was
fitted by a team of divers and is designed
to float on the surface of the water, rising
and falling with the tide.
Whitehaven Harbour has played a central role
in the regeneration of the town in recent
years, putting Whitehaven firmly on the tourist
map and proving popular with local people,
shoppers and boat owners alike. However, the
Environment Agency and the Harbour Commission
have been concerned about oil and litter entering
the harbour from the town’s main culverts.
Environment Agency Officer Duncan Fyfe, who
has been leading the investigations to establish
the sources of the pollution in the harbour,
said: "Oil affects the water environment
in a number of ways. Not only is it unsightly
and the cause of unpleasant smells, it is
also harmful to wildlife.
"Birds are particularly vulnerable because
oil damages their naturally waterproof feathers,
and because they tend to ingest oil during
preening. Oil also reduces the oxygen levels
in the water and taints the flesh of fish
which are exposed to it."
The careless disposal of litter is also a
problem, as it is washed into the town’s surface
water drains, which discharge into the harbour.
Everyone who visits the harbour can help reduce
the amount of litter that makes its way into
the water, by using the litter bins on the
harbour front.
Whitehaven Harbour Master Neil Foskett said:
"The boom will contain any oil and litter
entering the harbour from this culvert, making
the clean-up of the harbour much easier and
reducing the impact of oil pollution by stopping
it from spreading."
The widespread use of oil in large quantities
means that there are more opportunities for
spills and accidental pollution incidents
involving oil than other any chemical pollutant.
The main causes of oil pollution are leaks
from storage facilities and spills during
delivery.
However, the Agency’s Duncan Fyfe believes
there is another source of oil pollution that
lies closer to home.
"Careless disposal of used oil from
car maintenance, or even cooking oil, is likely
to be a major source," he explains. "If
you change the oil in your car just once,
the waste oil is enough to form a film over
a four-acre lake. Less than a third of all
waste oil produced by motorists carrying out
their own car maintenance is recycled – that
means that about 13 million litres of waste
oil is are lost to the environment every year.
"Oil should be disposed of correctly,
by taking it to an oil recycling bank."
The floating oil boom is just part of a larger
Environment Agency project to address the
problem of pollution in Whitehaven Harbour
from the town’s surface water system. The
aim of the project is not only to deal with
the pollution when it occurs, with measures
such as the oil boom, but also to find out
exactly where the pollution is coming from
so it can be avoided in the first place.
The Environment Agency would like to thank
the Whitehaven Harbour Commission and the
Whitehaven Development Company for their involvement
in the project.
Notes
It is an offence under section 85 of the
Water Resources Act 1991 to cause or knowingly
permit polluting matter to enter a controlled
watercourse. The Environment Agency takes
such offences very seriously and can prosecute
offenders, who can be faced with fines of
up to £20,000 or six months’ imprisonment.
The Agency has already identified ‘cross-connections’
as a major source of pollution in the harbour,
where household drainage systems have been
wrongly connected so that dirty water goes
to surface water drains and ultimately, rivers
and streams instead of the sewer system.
