Oil and ammonia found at dead-fish dyke - company

About 900 dead fish were found near Kings Dyke, Whittlesey

A water company investigating the death of about 900 fish in a dyke said it had found other potential sources of pollution in the area.

Residents living near Kings Dyke in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, said last week they felt "angry and sick" at the incident and claimed raw sewage was behind the foul odour and discoloured water.

The Environment Agency said Anglian Water’s pumping station discharged for 23 hours in what it called a "category one incident".

Anglian Water said its storm overflow had operated as permitted during heavy rainfall, but that it found evidence of an oil slick close to one outfall, and high levels of ammonia at a second.

'Deeply concerned'

Resident Nikki Jackson, who had a pile of dead fish at the bottom of her garden, called the incident “disappointing”.

“Over the past days, the condition of the water has slightly improved - don’t know if it’s because they [Anglian Water] have pumped something to clear it or it’s the rain, but the odour has improved as well," she said.

Steve Barclay, shadow environment secretary and Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said he was “deeply concerned” and has called Anglian Water's response “inadequate”.

He called for “clarity" on when the pump failure occurred and on the amounts of sewage discharged due to this.

He said no evidence of any other possible cause of pollution on this scale had been presented to him.

“The tests from the Environment Agency should help confirm the cause of the dead fish and the results should be published quickly," he added.

Some residents living near Kings Dyke said they had not seen a fish alive since last week

Anglian Water said there were more than eight additional outfalls not owned by it on the stretch of water affected.

A spokesperson said: “We are taking it very seriously, and were working throughout the weekend alongside the Environment Agency and other agencies to investigate what has happened.

“We’ve been very open that our storm overflow operated as permitted during such heavy rainfall.

"However, this does not necessarily mean our asset activity resulted in the impact on the watercourse.

“Since the initial event we’ve found several other potential sources of pollution which do not belong to Anglian Water.”