Jane Nower - 22-Nov-2007
- The Environment Agency will explain its
plans for a new flood alleviation scheme
for Marlow at an open meeting on 26 November
2007 at the Marlow Town Council Offices
on Pound Lane, Marlow between 4 – 8pm.
The £1.2m scheme will reduce flood
risk to 115 homes in Pound Lane, Garnet
Court and Marlin Court. The neighbourhood
has suffered extensively from flooding in
the past, due to problems with highway drainage,
as well as residual problems caused by flooding
from the Thames and the high water table.
The Environment Agency’s scheme will tackle
out of banks overflow from the Thames, as
well as creating new areas for flood storage.
Technical specialist Stephen Hunter, Environment
Agency said: “This exhibition will give
the residents of Pound Lane, Garnet Court
and Marlin Court the chance to come along
and ask any questions that they might have
about our proposed scheme for how to manage
the area’s flooding problems.
“At present, homes in the area have a ten
per cent annual chance of flooding. Our
scheme – which has been designed in conjunction
with engineering consultants Halcrow – is
anticipated to protect the area against
one in 100 year flooding events, or a one
per cent annual chance of flooding.”
The Environment Agency hopes to submit
a planning application to Wycombe District
Council for the scheme by Summer 2008 and
subject to gaining all relevant approvals
and funding, construction will begin in
2009 -10.
In addition, plans for a sister project
to protect properties in the Firview Close
and Gosmore Lane areas of Marlow will be
announced and explained to residents in
February 2008 Ends
Notes for editors
Media and photographers are welcome to
attend this event from 3.45pm onwards, on
Monday 26 November 2007 in the Marlow Town
Council Offices, General Higginson Room,
Court Garden, Pound Lane, Marlow, SL7 2AE
between 4 – 8pm. Stephen Hunter, Environment
Agency asset system management technical
specialist and key members of the project
team will be available for interview.
+ More
Watercress farm fined for polluting river
Paul Gainey - 22-Nov-2007 - The operator
of a Dorset watercress farm was today ordered
to pay £5,967 in fines and costs for
polluting the River Nadder with silt during
maintenance work. The case was brought by
the Environment Agency.
Ludwell watercress beds are located in
a valley near Shaftesbury where spring water
from the River Nadder flows across the watercress
beds and into a lagoon where suspended solids
settle out. The water is then returned to
the River Nadder via a weir.
The site is owned and operated by Sun Salads
Limited from Selsey, Chichester, West Sussex.
The company, which runs a total of four
watercress farms, holds two authorisations
for the Ludwell site – an abstraction licence
for taking water from the river and discharge
consent for releasing settled effluent back
to the river. Both are regulated by the
Environment Agency.
Effluent from the watercress beds can be
polluting to rivers and streams as it can
contain highs levels of suspended solids
and zinc. Growers use zinc to prevent a
disease called ‘crookroot’, but must ensure
levels do not exceed permitted limits as
it can be toxic to aquatic life.
Suspended solids or sediment is found naturally
in rivers but is polluting when introduced
in large quantities and can damage aquatic
ecosystems and affect fish breeding and
health.
Every couple of years the settlement lagoon
needs to be de-silted to remove any material
that has accumulated. On April 3, 2007 contractors
started emptying the lagoon at Ludwell before
blocking off the consented discharge point
to the River Nadder. This resulted in effluent
containing high levels of suspended solids
escaping into the river.
An Agency officer carrying out routine
water sampling witnessed the spill and sampled
the ‘extremely dark’ discharge to the river.
The suspended solids were almost 10 times
(191 mg/l) above the consented maximum of
20 mg per litre. An excavator was ‘disturbing
large amounts of solids’ with each scoop.
After stopping the original discharge,
contractors started pumping water through
two mobile settlement tanks and into the
river, but the speed of pumping was too
fast and the system proved ineffective at
removing suspended solids. This resulted
in a second illegal discharge.
‘Prosecutions like this send a message
to all those holding consents to discharge
to the environment of the importance of
making sure all releases meet the required
standard and don’t cause pollution. This
incident may have been avoided if somebody
from Sun Salads had been on site to oversee
the de-silting of the lagoon and ensured
that no polluted water was released into
the River Nadder,’ said Emily Pitts for
the Environment Agency.
Sun Salads of Park Farm, Chichester Road,
Selsey, Chichester, West Sussex was, today,
fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £967
costs by West Dorset Magistrates sitting
in Weymouth after pleading guilty to breaching
three conditions of its Consent to Discharge
at Ludwell Water Cress Beds on April 3,
2007 in contravention of Section 85(6) of
the Water Resources Act 1991.
