Walsall Canal online appeal reaches £23k as data shows hundreds of water pollution reports in region
A fundraising campaign to clean up a canal after a chemical spillage which killed fish has hit the £23,000 mark - as figures show hundreds of pollution incidents have hit the Black Country and Staffordshire.
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Figures show that between 2018 and 2023 the Environment Agency was attending fewer incidents across England than before the coronavirus pandemic.
A Freedom of Information request shows there were 149 water incidents in Sandwell in the same period, of which 25 were visited 'immediately' by the agency's staff, meaning they were attended within two hours of a report coming in, or within four hours outside of the normal working day.
All 124 of those not visited were 'category three' incidents having a 'minor or minimal' impact on the environment.
In Dudley there were 100 water pollution incidents in the same period, of which 19 which were visited immediately.
Of the 81 not visited immediately, one was a category two incident, which are classed as having a 'significant' impact. The remainder were category three incidents.
