Eight miles of pollution on canals
Toxic pollution killing thousands of fish in a Black Country canal has now spread more than eight miles, the Environment Agency said today.
Dead fish are still being fished out of the city's waterways – a week after the canals became contaminated from a Severn Trent sewage plant.
Around 2,000 have been discovered since a toxic substance from the Wolverhampton plant near Autherley Junction, on the Pendeford-Oxley border, ran into the waters.
Today it emerged fish were still being found as far north as Wheaton Aston in South Staffordshire and as far south as Dunstall Park.
The chemical spillage spread along the Shropshire Union and Staffordshire & Worcestershire canals last Saturday after reports of dead pike, bream and perch floating in the water.
Severn Trent confirmed the source of the problem was the company's Barnhurst sewage plant on Barnhurst Lane, where ammonia is reported to have been discharged into the canal network after leaking into the treatment works.
Fresh water is now being pumped into contaminated stretches of one of the waterways from the Belvide Reservoir at Penkridge, in a bid to dilute the pollution.
Environment Agency spokeswoman Emily Poyser said: "British Waterways and the Environment Agency are still monitoring the situation and doing everything possible to reduce fish deaths.
"The pollutant in the Shropshire Union canal is still being diluted with water from Belvide Reservoir at Penkridge. The pollutant in the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal is breaking down naturally."
The pollution came just days after the canal network was re-stocked with around 6,000 fish to entice more anglers.
