The ongoing problem with raw sewage being released into the brook running along the edge of the CVHT field and abutting Knowle Lane is now receiving long overdue attention.
In yet another email to dated 4 May 2016 to the Environment Agency, who are a regulator for water quality, we pointed out that again with the onset of warmer weather the sewage fungus had returned with a vengeance and there was also a lot of smelly, disgusting solids matter in the brook.
Once again we sent in copies of the following photos taken by a resident on their phone (the white area is sewage fungus).
It was also pointed out that the bund (white pipe above), installed we believe by Thames Water, was not only completely ineffective as it didn’t even touch the surface of the water, but also inappropriate for this problem.
We asked the Environment Agency (EA) to :
1. Elevate this to your top pollution status (recently young children were playing in the brook 200 yds downstream constructing a play dam).
2. Take appropriate ENFORCEMENT action to get Thames Water to sort out this pollution problem.
3. Give this an EA incident reference and confirm the reference number to me.
As regular readers of our blog will be aware this incident has been ongoing for over 10 years. You can read more about the background in our articles:
DANGEROUS LEVELS OF SEWAGE IN CRANLEIGH BROOK
THAMES WATER CRANLEIGH SEWAGE UPDATE
On 9 May 2016 the EA confirmed that “Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) have been in contact with some further information relating to the incident that you (and others) reported. They have carried out a CCTV survey of the sewers in the areas and have detected a small leak from the foul sewer into a surface water drain. Thames Water contractors need to re-attend site to plan works to rectify the issue, at present the proposal is to reline the leaking sewers or reroute them.
One of our officers attended site on Friday to make an assessment of the current impact. At present the incident is having a localised low-level environmental impact on the channel that feeds the Littlemead Brook near Knowle Park. Approximately 10m of the channel was observed to be impacted by sewage fungus. Impacts were not observed to extend onto the Littlemead brook itself. Our assessment has been communicated with TWUL, and we are working with them to address the issue.
As I think you are aware, we do not advise on human health issues. If you are concerned about particular health risks from this ditch please contact your local council Environmental Health department for further advice.”
This brook connects directly to Littlemead Brook and it is not unreasonable to believe that there has been during this period a detrimental impact on this watercourse from raw sewage running into the brook for over 10 years. To reroute or reline this sewer is we understand quite a major undertaking.
Residents have now reported activity around the brook over the last 2 days. There have been tankers pumping the sewage from, what appears to be a large underground cesspit by the Gate House at the top of Knowle Lane.
We will keep you updated as this issue continues to develop.
