Please help - poisoned water

vole-woman · #1 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 06:52 PM

This poster's gone up in a stretch of brook where there used to be water voles, though I haven't seen any for six weeks now.

Does anyone know

a) does it mean the water voles there will have died? I saw a rat there this evening who looked OK.

b) will the algae spread down (and maybe even up) the brook? Does it spread fast? What causes it in the first place?

c) what can be done about it, and if the water can be cleaned, who do I contact to get the job done?

aland · #2 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 07:58 PM

Hello vole-woman, This is caused by low oxygen levels in water due to the weather, Usually it happens in still water, I have in the past fetched out the environment agency who have bought a pump and circulated the water this can cure it, You could try and contact them to see what they think, Aland.

Gill Catton · #3 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 08:08 PM

I couldn't say for certain, but my experiance is that water voles can be pretty resiliant to pollution, I had three living in an old ditch next to crossness and the ditch was stagnant full of old tyres and sofas and purple sulfurous bacteria and god knows what else and still the voles were there! Fingers crossed for you....

Jason Green · #4 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 08:11 PM

Hi VW,

If Shropshire Council know of this, I'm sure they'll be getting any cleansing work done. As Alan says, in periods of warm weather things like this do happen which eventually subside when the temperatures come down. We're heading into Autumn now so I don't think it'll be long. I'm sure the voles are OK.

Take care,

Jason

loripo · #5 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 08:17 PM

The lake and ponds in our local parks & commons all carry this type of notice and people still let their dogs into the water - certainly the water birds dont seem to be affected, but it can be toxic to humans - tho we probably cause a lot of it in the first place by what we dump in the water...

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/...22/0024256.pdf

vole-woman · #6 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 08:54 PM

Thanks! The notice sounded grim, and I panicked. I'll give the council a ring as soon as their offices open on Monday, and then the EA if the council sound a bit vague.

Meta menardi · #7 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vole-woman

Thanks! The notice sounded grim, and I panicked. I'll give the council a ring as soon as their offices open on Monday, and then the EA if the council sound a bit vague.

I wouldn't want you to become an umberella waving termagent, but don't take vague, they have to know what this is about. The EA should have some idea, but the ball falls in the LA's responsibility.

Don't want a ball falling in my responsibility.

The Woodman · #8 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 10:25 PM

The algal bloom will have been caused by environmental conditions, sun, available nutrients (phospates and nitrates) in the water etc.

It should be short lived and disappear completely. Not all blue-green algaes are toxic or are blue-green in colour and I'm surprised the notice has appeared on a brook, the blooms usually occur on stillwaters.

I was at a conference today where it was announced that a phosphate stripping plant was going to be installed at Coniston effluent treatment works and this process will help alleviate the blue-green blooms in the lake.

I've seen some massive blooms in park lakes on the Wirral where the surface looked like paint, it was so thick. Nothing seems to suffer apart from the occassional dog or swimmer who ingests the stuff.

The amounts present in a brook must be relatively small unless the brook is the effluent watercourse of a lake or mere. The council are taking a wise precaution in advising people of what should be a low risk natural occurance.

This what we get up in South Lakes, plus notices like you've seen.

South Lakeland District Council :: 2 July - SLDC warns of Blue-Green Algae

vole-woman · #9 (**permalink**) 12-09-2009, 07:13 AM

You're all brilliant.

I'm known to the council for my badgering ability ("It's that vole woman again") so I'll definitely make sure I get a proper response, and I might speak to the EA as well, just to be on the safe side.

vole-woman · #10 (**permalink**) 14-09-2009, 09:09 AM

The EA seem to think water voles probably won't be affected, that they'll avoid the water till the levels of bacteria drop, and eat vegetation further up the bank. (But they'll still have to drink, won't they?)

The source of the algae is a lake which feeds the stream, so it's all the way along and carries on down through a nature reserve.

The lake landowner's put down barley straw, though, so here's hoping that, and the cessation of the warm weather, see the algae off.

I'm going to check on a colony nearer to the lake today and see what the situation is.