Anyone with an interest in the environment can sign-up
for e-mail alerts on how the Environment Agency is
responding to incidents, including river pollution
where sewage or another substance has entered the
water.
The service has been tested since March in Enfield,
Hackney, Haringey, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham
Forest.
Environment officers are currently investigating one of
the worst pollution incidents to the River Lee in
recent memory. In February 2018, several thousand
litres of waste oil entered the Lee in Tottenham.
A joint clean-up from the Environment Agency and Canal
and River Trust removed 100,000 litres of contaminated
water and 100 tonnes of hazardous waste from the water.
This is the type of incident that the new service will
cover.
People who want to be kept posted on incident
management can simply log
on free of charge and submit their e-mail
address.
They can select the river or rivers of interest from
around 80 in London, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Essex and Hertfordshire. The Environment Agency will
then issue regular updates. The number of e-mails sent
out will depend on the size and scale of the incident.
Including all reports of suspected pollution in London
and the northern Home Counties, from smells to fish in
distress, the Environment Agency handled more than 55
incidents a month in the year to August.
Sam Lumb, Area Director for the Environment Agency in
the northern Home Counties and London north of the
Thames, said:
We’re really pleased to be extending this popular
service to those with a keen interest in the
environment. It means the public can be informed
about major water pollution incidents that might
affect their property, business, wellbeing or their
access to amenities.
We have already run a test service this year after
several incidents in the 6 London boroughs that have
the River Lee running through them – Enfield,
Hackney, Haringey, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham
Forest.
The feedback has been really positive, and a number
of community groups asked us to include their local
watercourse in the updates.
If, after a 6-month trial period, the alerts have
proved popular, there are plans to extend the service
in the future.
To report pollution incidents, call the Environment
Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60.
Local authority areas now included in the service:
Barking and Dagenham; Barnet; Brent; Camden; Ealing;
East Hertfordshire; Enfield; Hackney; Hammersmith and
Fulham; Haringey; Harlow; Harrow; Hertsmere;
Hillingdon; Hounslow; Islington; Kensington and
Chelsea; Luton; Newham; Redbridge; St Albans; Three
Rivers; Watford; and Welwyn and Hatfield
Areas partially covered: Brentwood; Central
Bedfordshire; Chiltern; Dacorum; Epping Forest;
Havering; North Hertfordshire; Richmond upon Thames;
South Bucks; Spelthorne; Stevenage; Uttlesford; and
Windsor and Maidenhead
