‘Catastrophic’ leak kills a thousand fish

SEWAGE leaking into the River Lea and Luton Hoo lakes has killed an estimated one thousand small fish and at least 12 larger fish this week.

Enviornment Agency (EA) officers are dealing with the impact of the sewage discharge and working to prevent the pollution spreading further.

Thames Water are responsible for the sewage, which entered both lakes of the Luton Hoo fishery from the River Lea on February 28.

Jenny Melvin, Environment Management Team Leader said: “This is a significant sewage pollution incident which has caused the death of a large number of fish. It’s distressing to see such damage to a beautiful part of our environment, which will impact on the local community and particularly anglers who enjoy fishing the lakes.”

An EA spokesperson said fish are still in distress in the lake and they are deploying aeration equipment in a bid to prevent further fish deaths. Sewage pollution strips out oxygen in the water, leading to fish suffocation.

A spokesperson from Thames Water said the pollution appears to be a result of a blockage of silt in the sewer network which caused the sewage to flow into the surface water network and nearby lakes.

The spokesperson said: “We have been working around the clock for the past week trying to resolve this issue. Obviously any pollution incident is deeply regrettable. We are tankering away the sewage while we do this work to ensure there is no further pollution and we hope to have this cleared by the end of the week.”

Luton Hoo Hotel is now appealing to Thames Water to restock its two lakes following the ‘catastrophic’ effect of the pollution.

Estate Manager Richard Biffen said: “This is an extremely distressing incident that has had a devastating effect on our fish stocks. We appreciate that Thames Water reacted swiftly when we first reported the pollution, installed aerators in an attempt to increase the dangerously low levels of oxygen and deployed a team to work on site and monitor the situation 24 hours a day in conjunction with the Environment Agency.

“The combination of low rainfall and keeping our weirs shut meant the pollution was contained in our lakes and prevented from causing further environmental damage downstream. However, a significant proportion of our fish stock has been affected, including stickleback, roach, common carp, tench and other course fish, many of them mature and weighing up to 25lbs.

“Fish were killed in a similar incident in 2002 and this time we sincerely hope that Thames Water will agree to restock the lakes and restore the fish to previous levels.”

Thames Water said there have been blockages within this sewage pipe in the past, although not in this particular area.

The EA have launched an investigation.

http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/catastrophic-leak-kills-a-thousand-fish-1-3598704

Massive fish kill reported in Louisiana - Unbelievable images

What you see above isn't a rural gravel road. It's a Louisiana waterway, its surface completely covered with dead sea life -- a mishmash of species of fish, crabs, stingray and eel. New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV reports that even a whale was found dead in the area, a stretch of coastal Louisiana hit hard this summer by oil from BP's busted Gulf well.


Fish kills are fairly common along the Gulf Coast, particularly during the summer in the area near the mouth of the Mississippi, the site of this kill. The area is rife with dead zones -- stretches where sudden oxygen depletion can cause widespread death. But those kills tend to be limited to a single species of fish, rather than the broad sort of die-off involved in this kill.

And therein lies the concern of Gulf residents, who suspect this may be yet another side effect of the catastrophic BP oil spill.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser sounded the alarm bells Monday, distributing the photos here to the local media. Nungesser said that no testing is currently planned to determine how the kill may relate to the BP oil disaster, but he pleaded with officials from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to investigate.

"We can't continue to see these fish kills,'' Nungesser said in a statement. "We need some additional tests to find out why these fish are dying in large numbers. If it is low oxygen, we need to identify the cause."

Dead zones are increasingly common in the world's oceans. But they're particularly so off Louisiana, because nutrient-rich water and sediment from the nation's agricultural runoff travels downriver and is dumped into the Gulf.

Various species of single-celled plantlike organisms flourish in waters enriched with chemical nutrients -- organisms that go on to vastly deplete the oxygen in the water they inhabit.

Many scientists have feared that an influx of oil-eating microbes would lead to more Gulf Coast dead zones, since the microbes use large amounts of oxygen when they consume the oil particles produced by chemical dispersants.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100914/od_yblog_upshot/massive-fish-kill-reported-in-louisiana