A number of times, but seemingly randomly, we have had reported pollution incidents in the Enbrook Stream, where the stream as it runs into Enbrook Park is discoloured and clearly has had some sort of discharge into it. The incidents are irregular, seemingly random, and have cleared quite quickly: often an hour later, there is no sign of it.
On each of those occasions we have reported the incident, with photos where we have them, to the Environment Agency. In conjunction with Southern Water they have investigated and some time ago throught they had found a source (a misconnectioned drainage pipe) and ensured a fix. However, over the Christmas period, there was another incidenct, with a resident sending us the picture above.
We of course also reported that onto the Environment Agency, who have responded (4/1/2022):
“I have forwarded the photo onto Southern Water to keep them updated with these discharge occurrences. Although random and with no obvious source, I will attempt to keep Southern Water investigating and narrowing down a source by installing cages in the surface water network and tracing the appropriate line.
“Unfortunately the Environment Agency are no longer funded to attend these incidents and investigate ourselves, so we have no choice but to keep referring these incidents to Southern Water and await their response.
“I offer apologies for the inevitable length of time it may take to come to a conclusion. But please keep sending me through evidence of these spills when they occur as I am logging them for any future enforcement options.”
If you see evidence of pollution in Enbrook Stream (its generally really easy to spot: it goes cloudy!) then please do take any pictures you can of it, and send them with the date and time the photo was taken to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk We are working to resolve the issue, but the more evidence we have to pass to the Environment Agency / Southern Water, the better the chance they can find and fix the currently unknown cause.