90kg of fish carcasses removed from cyanide filled Walsall canal

90 kilograms of dead fish have been removed from Walsall canal, after an industrial leak led to chemicals including sodium cyanide spilling into the waterway.

Specialists at the Environment Agency assessed the health of the canal over the weekend and found 300 metres of waterway were affected by the spill. The carcasses in that stretch were taken away to be stored and disposed of.Walsall Council say chemical testing will still continue every day, as they wait for cyanide levels to fall, and they are exploring what action may be needed in the future.

The Canal and River Trust has today launched its own £10,000 funding appeal to try to restore the canal and wildlife damaged by the chemical spill.

The spillage is no longer a major incident and the restricted area of the canal has been reduced down to one kilometre with temporary dams at each end. In this area high levels of sodium cyanide and zinc cyanide have been found.

The council says water quality is within public health guidelines from the Walsall lock flight to the lock flights at Rushall/Ryders Green and Perry Barr which was previously closed but people should still not eat fish from the canal. Walsall lock flight remains closed to boat movement, with barriers in place at Ocker Hill Junction and Birchills Junction to prevent boaters meeting a dead end.

The chemical spill happened on Monday 12 August and was upgraded to a major incident the following day with the council warning of potential serious health risks to anyone who has had direct physical contact with the water.

Anochrome Ltd and the Environment Agency are investigating how this pollution happened.

In a statement Anochrome Ltd said:

"Our immediate response was to notify the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water. Our senior management team has been – and remain - on-site working collaboratively with all relevant authorities and agencies to minimise and contain the spill.

"In addition, from the moment we were aware of the incident, we have made all our facilities available to the authorities and agencies in attendance, including inhouse laboratory testing facilities.

"The safety of our community and the environment is our top priority. We are focused on limiting the impact of this incident and will provide further updates as they become available."

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