Fears of water pollution after hundreds of fish found dead in south Scotland park

• Report by Kate Walby

There are fears of a public health issue in Dumfries and Galloway after the discovery of hundreds of dead fish near a local park.

Piles of dace have been around an inlet drain in Carlingwark Loch in Castle Douglas prompting concerns the water is being polluted.

Both The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Water are aware of the incident. How the fish died remains unknown, and locals say it is currently unclear who is responsible for the clear up.

It's four days since the fish were first spotted by Jools Cox, a local environmentalist. She said, "I'd just come back from Glasgow, came down here and noticed this horrible smell of fish, dead fish, and we noticed that by the outlet pipe there was a large quantity of small dead fish about the size of sardines. There's hundreds of them.

"I think there's a pollution issue from either the surface water of an overflow from the household water into the surface water."

In a statement Scottish Water said, "An engineer has visited the site and there were no issues identified. The sewer serves a small number of properties and no major businesses which would use chemicals. We did attend a blocked sewer in the area on the 10th November. We cleared this and reported it to SEPA at the time.

"It is unclear what has caused the fish to die and we will provide any further support to other agencies if required."

Meanwile SEPA- the Scottish Environment Protection Agency - only say they are liaising with partners at Dumfries and Galloway Council and Nature Scotland to investigate the incident.

It's thought the loch is privately owned and Dumfries and Galloway council who look after the park have refused to respond to any of our emails, so it is currently unclear who is responsible for removing the dead fish.