Whilst attending a pollution incident on the Fenwick Water this evening, we received another report of pollution , this time on the Ayr at Mauchline. The Sewage Treatment Works were discharging a large quantity of grey water that affected the river for a considerable distance downstream. I asked that the person reporting it to call it into SEPA and request an incident number (it is very important to request an incident number as this guarantees that the call is logged and SEPA will investigate).
Once we had finished at Kilmarnock, the two duty SEPA officers had to head back to their offices to bag and tag the samples collected on the Fenwick Water. It was important that they dealt with the dead fish quickly to prevent further decomposition. As Gordon and I were heading back to Mauchline anyway, we agreed to attend and update SEPA in the morning. As the source was clearly the treatment works, SEPA will requested that Scottish Water attend to the matter asap. ART will also inform Scottish Water that this is unacceptable.
Scottish Water are currently upgrading the treatment works at Mauchline, however there was obviously something wrong when this level of contamination reaches the river. The river was discoloured for hundreds of meters downstream. Although we have had rain today, it could hardly be called a flash flood or anything like it. I’ll see what SW say in the morning. There was no evidence of dead fish and I don’t expect any (although this isn’t impossible).
Pollution visible downstream of Barskimming bridge
