Purewell pollution

One of our successes in Purewell and Stanpit ward has come as a result of the 'dogs on a lead' policy now in its third year, applied to the SSSI Stanpit Marsh. Gold awards followed from interested organisations and the range of wildlife especially birds have blossomed. A lesson if you like, in sharing the planet with the most amazing bio-diversity and of treating the area with great respect. Residents have played their part and I have blogged many times about the volunteers, ‘the green team’ that are regularly seen tending the flora and up to their waders in clearing the ditches. Whilst dog fouling is still a problem in the area as a whole even here we have seen some improvement, certainly on the marsh. However all is not entirely as it seems because late last year the EA had to be called to the Purewell Stream which had been polluted to the extent that no fish, vertebrates or much else survived. When this was brought to my attention just yesterday I spoke to a number of like minded residents only to find that apparently this was a regular event. Roach, Chubb (as big as 2 pound), eels and a whole population of fry, all perished at regular intervals through the last year. I charged our Countryside team to get the EA excited as they appeared to have been disinterested and the volunteers to use their knowledge and contacts to locate the source of the pollutant. Remember the stream is a direct tributary to the harbour, pollution to this extent has probably been damaging the marine ecosystem for years. Let’s find out what or who is doing this!