Wildlife Circus

                                                       Nitrate top score   Last weekend was the annual Waterblitz co-ordinated by the Earthwatch Institute's Freshwater watch. Volunteers head out with testing kits over the same long weekend so that all the data points are comparable to the next.The data goes to a central database so that researchers can identify areas for further investigation. Nitrates and Phosphates are tested at 5 sample sites and I usually choose the same ones. The confluence of the Bonesgate and the Hogsmill has had phosphate levels and the two sites below the Hogsmill Sewage works always has high nitrate readings.     Sample site three is just above  confluence of the Tolwort...

  Thames Water have done it again. There has been a significant sewage spill covering a very large area of ground. The fence warns us 'danger electricity', but not of the sewage that has recently spewed all over the recreation ground-from the surcharged tunnel of cess -all the way from Worcester Park. This is in fact, a repeat performance of the public health and natural disaster of February, 2016.     A sog  of raw stinking sewage meanders through scrub creating grey rivulets in many places, especially  towards lower ground  leading to the river. Further along a secondary footpath to the woods, raw sewage remains pooled and ecoliferous. Thames Water have set up a Heras fence cordon and attempted to clean up the site, albeit very poorly, with rag still littered around the public park. This is clearly a large scale pollution event, affecting land right up to the river. Thames Water have a duty of care to warn the public of the danger;  pa...