New water pump brought into Stourbridge park following dead fish drama
A large scale water pump has been brought in to help aerate the lake at a Stourbridge park after hundreds of fish were found dead following recent thunderstorms.
The fish, which are said to have died from lack of oxygen, were found in Heath Pool at Mary Stevens Park following the heavy rain, heatwave and thunderstorm more than a week ago.
The discovery came after thousands of fish deaths were reported across the West Midlands, with fish carcasses being pulled from public pools in Wolverhampton and Staffordshire.
As a result of the storms, Dudley Council said it had arranged the removal of around 1,700 dead fish at Mary Stevens Park.
The authority said the large scale fish deaths were due to a number of uncontrollable factors related to oxygen levels in the water.
In warmer weather, water and air temperatures are high, reducing the water’s capacity to hold oxygen. Low atmospheric pressure during thunderstorms further reduces the capacity of water to hold oxygen.
The council said it had also brought in a large scale water pump to help aerate the lake.
The large industrial pump aims to help circulate the water to provide more oxygen into the lake and the pump will remain in place until the oxygen level improves.
Councillor Damian Corfield, Dudley Council's cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said: "While the warm weather has been a blessing to most of us, the combination of high air and water temperatures and storms has resulted in the loss of many fish from the lake at Mary Stevens Park.
"We know this is distressing for visitors, but please be assured that we are monitoring the lake on a daily basis and removing any dead fish every day. Our contractors are working in the evening to minimise disruption to our park users.
"We have also notified the Environment Agency, who have approved our approach and with the introduction of the new pump which is increasing oxygen levels in the water, we hope to see a reduction in further fish deaths and would encourage people to continue to enjoy using Mary Stevens Park."
Dudley Council said the lake would not need to be restocked as the fish population will naturally repopulate to normal levels over time.
