A local cycle track in chester, route 88 of the National cycle network from Chester,The Cop,(SEALAND ROAD)to Queensferry, about half a mile from chester, there is a mahole that has been pumping dirty smelly water out onto the cycle path for 3 weeks, the local sewage works is on one side of the track, and the river dee on the other,this wateris running into the River Deem its also standing and making brown algaea on the path,which is an obvious health risk and a slip danger.
Environmnet agency say its not their problem, despite running into the river Dee, and so do welsh water who own the sewage works.
There are 2 green metal posts adjacent to the manhole, painted green, with small bird box roofs on the top, to identify something underneath.
Any advice on who to complain to to get this mess cleaned up.All ii have had is buck passing, and non returned calls.
I would have thought it is the environment agencies responsibility to make Welsh water / owners of the sewage works / maintainer of the manhole / sewer to do something about it.
It should come under 'Pollution incidents to controlled waters'
In all the desk studies I read where a pollutant enters a water source it is the Environment Agency which is listed as the Authority which issues fines / records the Incident and severity.
Phone them up / email them and say 'I wish to report a pollution incident in to a potentially controlled water'
Welsh Water say its not their asset, as do united utilities.
Enviromental Health at Cheshire West & Chester Council?
http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/environment/environmental_health.aspx
Protection of the Environment: Air quality monitoring, Noise pollution, Smoke dust and odour, Drinking water supplies, Land contamination, Environmental protection and Pollution investigation
Please phone 0800 80 70 60 it is the EA incident line, they will then tell the area office in the locality and they should send an Environment Officer to take a look.
It IS the EA's remit to deal with this - whether it is a private or public sewer, they are there to protect watercourses from pollution.
Get back on to them - they should then investigate where it's coming from and who is responsible and may issue clean up notices/fines etc.
Also give Environmental Health at the local council a call - they'll help if the EA are giving you the run around. Make sure you tell them you think it's a risk to health (owing to it being on a public path) as well as a potential river pollution.
Then it should be down to the local authority to find out whose it is as its entering a surface water course - should either be Environment Agency or British Waterways.
[img]http://[/img]Have rung EA they sent out an inspector who i spoke to today, she said welsh water said it wasnt their asset, and nothing to do with them, so have rung welsh water repeatedly, today they said they had investigated, not their pproblem, now left it wit CWAC,s call centre, as an environmnetal issue.
CWAC= cheshire west and cheshire council
Regardless of who owns the asset - could be Welsh Water's, could be UU's (it's right on the border), could be say a private industrial estate's - it's the Agency's accountability to identify and deal with the polluter. Looks like a big enough treatment works to be Chester's though I suspect it's not an industrial pre-treatment site.
Could be that you've come up against a border between North West EA and Welsh EA, although they [i]should[/i] have passed the information between each other if you've given them the location, they're not renowned for great internal communication.
If you're not getting any joy you could try escalating it to their Bristol HQ and see if they can clarify which region it falls into.
I wonder if it's a surface water highways drain rather than part of the DC or UU network?
'drain' - this an area of speciality for you?
drain - Member
I wonder if it's a surface water highways drain rather than part of the DC or UU network?Posted 20 seconds ago # Report-Post
The cyclepath is built on the river embankment, and is higher than the river and the swewage works, distance from the river to the sewage works is about 40 feet, cycle path roughly in the middle.
Well if the surcharging manhole is causing a pollution then the E.A. should be trying to find out whose asset it is. I am an Environment Officer but in a different region. If you arent getting any joy I have a tip for you, get as many people you can find to call the 0800 80 70 60 the more calls ramp up the response.
post a grid reference up on here and we can all join in!
.
Hey - give us a call on 08708506506 ask for Shaun Wood. I'll do what I can to help.
I don't think Pigface's idea is particulalry great as people reporting other incidents might not be able to get through.
Get local news and press involved. Suprising what abit of bad media ocverage can do.
Any one else getting 7th Avenue in New York, split screen with a street view picture from that link?
EDIT-link gone, I suspect any fault is being dealt with 🙂
I hope that isnt your work mobile Shaun 😉
if you're luck you might make an appearance here;
[url= http://apiln.blogspot.com/ ]Angry People in Local Newspapers[/url]
Not a particularly great idea 🙂 how would you sort it?
Try sealand road chester, and then look for the sewage works, or Dane car garage, cycle track just goes along the side of it.
Shaun Wood Will give you a ring latter, got to go out now
Def log it with EA incident line (08708 506 506 option 1, or the number above), i'm an ex EA officer.. often depends at a local level who you get, some EO's are ace and some don't give a stuff apart from their lease cars and pensions..
if there is a discharge to a controlled water then the EA should def look into it.
make sure you tell the EA about the discharge to the River only, they will not be interested in the effect on the cyclepath as that is not their responsibility.
failing all that get a local press guy from the local rag involved - sure they would love this type of local page filler.
The sewage works is prob Welsh Water looking at the Dee Valley Water website, here's their coverage map >>
http://www.deevalleywater.co.uk/article.php?id=43
Their sewerage provider maps seems to show it's Welsh Water
http://www.deevalleywater.co.uk/article.php?id=76
Link to Google Earth for the track next to the river and the works, there's not a lot of chance it's anyone else's as there is no one else
@wwaswas - oh yes, how could I not end up in the water industry with a nickname like this?! 😉
The amount of Floods, Tempests, Winterbournes etc in the industry is spooky. Nominative determinism in action...
Hope you manage to get someone to acknowledge responsibility, project. Although Chester sewage treatment works is definitely Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's asset, there's a chance that this section of sewerage isn't theirs but perhaps some other localised / highways drainage.
Or maybe DC's GIS just isn't up-to-date... 🙄
Either way, the EA need to get on the case.
Project, I've spoken to our team investigating and I have an update for you. If you give me a call when you're free I'll let you know the current situation. I'm here until 6pm.
Cheers
Its now not classed as sewage, but clear water after being tested, by some people,at the relevant dept.
On the above picture its between the two sets of circular settlement tanks.
Big thanks to Shaun above and the local inspector.
Great stuff, good on you project for chasing on this - better to be cautious. Glad Shaun came up with the goods.
Like Russ I know this cycle track well, but I'm still going to close my mouth as I ride through it 😕
Hi all... I have an official reply from Welsh Water who asked me to post it on the thread:
[b]Now that Welsh Water has been alerted to this, we’ve been out to check the site in question today (Wednesday 11 August). We can now say that we don’t have any assets in the area (except Chester Wastewater Treatment Works) and no sewers or pipes from the works travel along the cycle track.
We don’t believe that this leak is from one of our assets, our nearest manhole is quite a distance away. We have referred this back to Environmental Health to investigate further and are very sorry that we can’t be of more assistance on this issue.[/b]
I have their contact details if you'd like to get in touch with their PR department. Cheers
Chipps
According to Mrs Philsimm (who used to work for the EA in Buckley:
It would be the sewage operators for the area – whoever owned it. The EA would investigate any pollution to a watercourse and require that the situation was resolved, and may take enforcement action against whoever caused the pollution, but would not normally undertake repairs or clean up, unless it was a massive end of the world type incident that couldn’t wait. If the sewage is just on a path or field, and not going into a watercourse, it would still be the sewage operator to repair it, but it would then be up to the local authority Environmental Health team to do any chasing or take enforcement action
Further update you all, a nice lady called Ali has been out from the EA,had a look and taken pictures as have i,the discharge has been tested and is just water, but as it doesnt drain away has formed a brown algae round the edge of the puddle about 18 foot log and about 4 foot wide, and an inch deep, and very slippy.
Dwr Cyru who own the adjacent Sewage works, have also been out and like they say above, its not their asset, so now it has been handed over to the CWAC environmnetal health, who passed it to highways, who passed it to enforcement , who passed it to somebody else at CWAC, all this was happening on friday pm, since then i have been awaiting a responce from CWAC.
Dwr Cyru, think it may be a private water supply, which is great as its been leaking for a month now, and we have a hosepipe ban in force.
CWAC = Cheshire West and Chester Council.
A big thankyou to the EA, for the excellent job they do, and also to all of the staff that have offered advice on here.
If only i knew how to post pictures on here.