Smell is ‘algae not sewage’

A complaint over sewage is plants breaking down, the Environment Agency has said.

A member of the public who wished to remain anonymous contacted The Voice saying they’d come across sewage in the River Welland at Moulton Marsh last month.
“It was not nice,” they said.
“That is not algae breakdown, I have a natural pond I see it every day in summer.”
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “The Holbeach river upstream doesn’t have any major sewage treatment works that would be capable of pumping sewage into that stretch of water.
“However, it does pick up nutrients from the surrounding agricultural land that help to create large scale plant and algal growth, and this that can be exacerbated by recent hot weather.
“It’s easy to mistake the breakdown of algae for sewage, particularly as it can be brown in appearance, with an unpleasant smell, and can also result in foam on the water’s surface, but this a natural part of our water ecology
“If you are concerned that what you see is not algae and is some other kind of pollution, please phone the Environment Agency hotline on 0800 807060 and avoid the water.”