On 3 Dec 2016 at 9:56pm Zebedee wrote:
Wales Farm, the dairy farm run as part of Plumpton Agricultural College (aka Plumpton College) has again polluted the Sussex Ouse catchment. And this times it is devastating.
In the last five years Plumpton College have polluted the Sussex Ouse catchment eight times. Some of these have been sufficiently significant that the Environment Agency has fined the college.
Still the college has paid no heed and continue to run 400 dairy cows on insufficient land with weak management and an uncaring and disconnected college principle. The cows create more slurry than the college can cope with. The result is their slurry tanks fill up and overflow into the Ouse tributaries or that they pump it onto fields at the wrong times, as they have just done.
The college's slurry runs off into the Plumpton Mill Stream, the major spawning ground for the endangered Sussex Sea Trout, and then into the Bevern Stream and on to the main Sussex Ouse.
The latest of the eight spills has been so large that it has created a 1km long 'slug' of slurry that has slowly marched its way from the college to the Ouse. This 'slug' has killed everything in the streams. Everything. That's it. No brown trout, no sea trout, no fish, no dragonflies, no flies, no invertebrates. As well as destroying the water life all the life that depends on this life for food are likely to starve or move elsewhere... the voles, kingfishers, herons, frogs etc.
For people who live by these streams or who just appreciate the wildlife and diversity that these watercourses support it's devastating. How can we show our children the natural beauty and diversity of the local watercourses now?
Plumpton Agricultural College need to be held to account. They must sort our their Wales Farm dairy herd, become responsible land managers and provide a substantial input into recovering the huge damage they've done.
Considering that Plumpton College train the farmers and fisheries managers of the future it beggars belief that they could take such a cavalier attitude to the natural world around them. What sort of example does this give to their students?
The principal Jeremy Kurswell and the manager of Wells Farm should resign with immediate effect and be replaced with people who truly understand land management as they plainly don't.
On 3 Dec 2016 at 10:11pm Feline wrote:
Has this latest episode been reported to the Environment Agency Zebedee?
On 3 Dec 2016 at 10:40pm Anonymous wrote:
Well said zebedee but at least have the. Ally's to post it under you're own name? You want them to be held accountable for any errors what about you?
On 4 Dec 2016 at 5:47am Towney wrote:
Don't worry zebedee, the head of the college has apologised so everything's going to be ok.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:15am Rosalyn St Pierre wrote:
Zebedde's anger is shared by many. The poisonous slug of slurry is now several miles in length. The Environment Agency has been out along the Bevern Stream in Barcome, trying to pump sludge out, block and filter the flow through straw bales. But the high ammonia is killing everything in its deadly path. I don't how serious this will be when it reaches the main river and of course the intake to the Waterworks that delivers drinking water to approximately 70,000 households. The EA are hoping to only release the polluted water at high tide when there is more water to disperse and dilute the ammonia. But the EA asks anyone walking by the river and seeing dead fish to report it to their hotline. This is so desperately sad, hundreds of beautiful fish are dead already and it is estimated the tributaries will take between 20-30 years to recover. No fish, no mayfly, no frogs, no kingfishers, no herons. Grown men were weeping on Friday as they picked up dead and dying sea trout that had just returned from years out at sea, avoiding trawlers, avoiding predators to die in agony when they returned to our lovely streams to spawn.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:15am Helen wrote:
When I heard this news the other day it took me by surprise. I walk alongside / cross the streams every day of the week (halfway up Plumpton Lane, East Chiltington, Novington Lane etc) and have seen no sign of the extent of pollution described by Zebedee. I'm not saying it didn't happen but I was also surprised by the photo of two large dead sea trout the size of which I have never seen in the streams in question.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:50am Rosalyn St Pierre wrote:
Helen, the slug was released about 3am on November 30th. Volunteers from the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust were working on the streams since first light, trying to keep ahead of it. The stench from near the escape point was so great it woke up those living near to the Plumpton Mill Stream. So your walk must have just been before.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 8:53am Helen wrote:
Can someone tell me exactly which part of Plumpton Mill Stream this is? Photo from Environment Agency.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 9:55am Marlen wrote:
This is outrageous. i had no idea! An agricultural College should be a beacon of best practise in looking after animals and the land. And now it turns out to be a repeat offender. Shame on them. And on us who let them get away with it. Just another "apology" is not enough.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 9:59am Dj wrote:
Fortunately more reasone voices get to decide.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 10:05am Gutted wrote:
So so sad and depressing,how could this happen.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:07am also gutted wrote:
This is truly awful - How can we make sure they are held accountable for this horrific crime?
Unfortunately it's part of a wider picture and we have been systematically destroying our countryside for eighty years in the name of progress and greed and look where it has got us. Miles of hedgerows grubbed up, streams and rivers polluted, fields sprayed with toxic chemicals killing insects, birds and wildflowers. It won't be long before the downs and the countryside is just a green desert devoid of any wildlife at all and we are not that far off.
I think we all need to look at reducing our beef consumption which is disastrous for the environment in so many ways and although more expensive make real attempts to buy and support organic and ethical produce when we can.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:15am I heard that ....... wrote:
A pump had failed !!! What? is there no tandem pumping and an automatic standby diesel genny. Sounds like Agriculture is following the Building industry where " the maintenance guy" is a second rate pleb in the eyes of the Guv'nors. Or maybe there is no one @ the college that checks any plant+ machinery.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:33am Zebedee wrote:
That is Clappers weir on the Bevern Stream at Barcombe. Plumpton College spilt thousands of litres of slurry (aka cow poo) into the Plumpton Mill Stream. The Plumpton Mill Stream drains into the Bevern which in turn drains into the Sussex Ouse.
The slurry has now gone past that point. The Environment Agency have been working all night with tankers and pumps, extracting the slurry and spreading it over nearby fields. The tanker operative I talked to said they had managed to stop it just before it got to the main Ouse.
The Environment Agency have moved remarkably swiftly and thrown a lot of man power at this. If true they have done extremely well to stop the pollution before it entered the Ouse. Hats off to them!
As for Plumpton College. The bill to the tax payer for the EA's work will be huge. The cost to the streams and the wildlife is massive and it's unlikely they'll fully recover in our lifetimes. Some species will never return. The college must be made to pay at least part of the huge reparation bill and reimburse the costs of the various organisations that have been using your money to maintain and improve the Ouse catchment. They should shut down their dairy herd immediately as they have shown time and time again that they are incapable of managing it. And most of all the principal Jeremy Kerswell, the man ultimately responsible for the disaster should consider resigning. He obviously does not care a jot about the environment and is not fit to be directing a college that runs courses in fisheries management and trains the farmers of tomorrow.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:33am Bob wrote:
I think the Environment Agency's statements on Twitter are a lot more measured than some of the posts on here.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:36am Bored wrote:
Not a pump failure at all, if your spread that much on frozen ground it runs in to the stream (again), this has happened many times in the past and will happen again!
They have had a bad run of late and need to turn themselves around quickly.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:41am Rosalyn St Pierre wrote:
Sunday morning and its 11.30. I have just got back home from walking around the Barcombe Mills area and speaking to the Environment Agency staff. The photo posted by Helen shows Clappers Weir at Barcombe Cross. As the slug of slurry comes down the stream from Plimpton Mill Stream the EA are putting oxygen into the water there and at Brown's Farm further down stream.
Staff and contractors from the college,have been working on the Plumpton Mill Stream. The director told me they are taking tankers loads of the remaining slurry and water out of that stream,effectively dredging it. At 11.15 there was a rise in ammonia readings just where the Bevern joins the main river and just above the water works intake. This shows the high levels of ammonia are still travelling down stream. As I have said before the Plumpton Mill Stream and the Bevern are being "sacrificed" to protect the main river.
I understand the EA has an information point in the car park at Barcombe Mill if you want to check it out.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 2:39pm River Boy wrote:
@Bored. It's not bad luck at all. Eight slurry related pollution incidents in only five years? That's not bad luck that is gross incompetence. Plumpton College has had many opportunities to sort out its dairy unit at Wales Farm and it's failed to do so, and now it's us that are paying the price. Plumpton College must pay for their negligence.
@ I heard that.. There are (unverified) reports from neighbours that state Plumpton College were spreading slurry onto frozen ground. The college state their slurry unit failed at 3am in the morning. You have to suspicious that they were just trying to get rid of excess slurry in a hurry (not caring that it was being pumped onto frozen ground and would end up in the stream) and then forgot to turn the pump off!
On 4 Dec 2016 at 4:00pm Towney wrote:
It certainly was frozen too...i drove past Plumpton college at midnight on the 30th and it was minus 6!
On 4 Dec 2016 at 4:18pm trooper wrote:
Are we to see heads roll , or are we to see "Lessons Learned" JOKE ???
I would submit that given this organisations track record, I feel that it is to say in the least that anybody in the College will feel that their duty and their honour requires them to accept that they were to blame. Those days are long gone. we now have spinelss ignorant aparatchicks, who preach the gospel "It was not me Guv"
Is it permissable to ask who funds this College??? if it is the Public Purse then I assume we the (Taxpayer) have a say in who is paid to manage these instutions, or do we just pay up and the good and the great appoint their cronies( it is not what you know it is WHO you know)
On 4 Dec 2016 at 5:03pm Bored wrote:
@Riverboy- I didn't mean the constant pollution incidents, I was referring to other issues the college has seen lately (forestry accident in the news etc). The fact they needed to pump at 3am would indicate there is a bigger problem!
On 4 Dec 2016 at 5:07pm Tom Pain wrote:
It's not livestock farming that's to blame, it's monoculture. Small mixed farms have never been a problem.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 5:49pm Dexter wrote:
Plumpton Agricultural College, turning out the young farmers of the future. So it's business as usual then. Farmers only pretend to care about the countryside when there is an EU grant involved.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:38pm Helen wrote:
"The latest of the eight spills has been so large that it has created a 1km long 'slug' of slurry that has slowly marched its way from the college to the Ouse. This 'slug' has killed everything in the streams. Everything."
I don't doubt that an incident occurred but I would appreciate a knowledgable explanation of how pollution of this kind works. Today, I walked from the rear of Plumpton College to Cooksbridge, following firstly Plumpton Mill Stream then the Bevern Stream. There was no sign of any pollution event, the water was running clear and the banks were clean. I can't understand how a "1km long slug" passed through tiny culverts, shallows, natural dams and weirs without leaving a trace?
This is the stream immediately to the south of the college (it is sunlight on the water)
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:41pm Helen wrote:
And this is the same stream shortly before it joins the Bevern Stream
On 4 Dec 2016 at 7:51pm Dexter wrote:
erm yes.....
It works like a toilet. You put excrement into a toilet. Then bleach it for good measure.
You flush the toilet. Hey presto... clear water & no poo!
Doen't mean everything living in the toilet isn't dead though. You sound like one of those people who believes that if they can't see a problem, it doesn't exist. A bit like climate change deniers or people who work for Plumpton College's PR. Apologies to you if I am wrong about that assumption.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 8:12pm River Boy wrote:
Helen. Your best bet is to take a look at the Ouse and Adurs Rivers Trust web site linked to below.
You must have missed the 'slug' of slurry as it flowed down the streams. In fact, by the time you took these photos I think it was well past where you were. Tonight it is at the confluence of the Ouse and Bevern Stream (not good at all). The way you locate is is mainly by smell. It smells like sh××.
What you would be better off doing is taking a net to the stream, disturbing the stones and seeing if there is anything left alive in there. I'm sure that OART would love to know. Actually, I would too.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 8:25pm River Boy wrote:
As for a knowledgable view of how these things work Helen... Here goes.
It's ammonia. Slurry (cow poo and piss) has an extremely high ammonia content. River life is very sensitive to ammonia and when hundreds and thousands of litres of very high ammonia concentrate passes by the life it does in seconds. It just xant breathe (ow whatevervpasses for breathing when you are under water). It just takes seconds, which is why the 1km slurry slug has killed everything.
And now it's entering the main Ouse (where I get my drinking water). It's not rained properly for a long while so there is no flow on the Ouse above the Mills (but this doesn't stop Southern Water extracting from it) and so the ammonia will just sit there between the Bevern/Ouse confluence and Barcombe Mills and kill everything.
I hope that makes sense to you. If more clarity is required please ask.
Check it out here »
On 4 Dec 2016 at 8:30pm Helen wrote:
@Dexter. I live close to the College and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I walk adjacent to those streams every day and didn't see or smell anything. I am not doubting that an incident occurred, but I am perplexed as to how I missed it and that there is no obvious sign of anything amiss. Maybe the slug wasn't a kilometre long? Or maybe the slug didn't form until contaminated water had travelled further downstream? I sometimes see a largish shoal of fish (I think Chub) in deeper water near Novington Lane - I shall continue to look out for these and other life. A couple of herons also fish the stream, I shall keep an eye out for these too.
On 4 Dec 2016 at 11:22pm The Greek wrote:
This is an absolute travesty. The Sussex Ouse has come on majorly in years and has been a beacon for cleanliness and biodiversity. Rare species such as indiginous crayfish and freshwater mussels make it their home. Not to mention the great stock of fish including migratory trout. I hope those responsible are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
On 5 Dec 2016 at 10:47am Zebedee wrote:
Helen. You just missed the slug that is all. In Barcombe it is easy to detect. It stinks. Here we have had environment agency contractors working 24 hours a day with pumps and three tanker lorries, sucking out the 100s of thousands of litres of slurry before it enters the Ouse. They are still here now, mob handed. I think also that it may have spread out to the 1km length confirmed by the Environment Agency as it drifted down the stream and not necessarily been that length when it started.
Most fish will die and rest on the bottom. Only when they decompose will they rise to the surface. This takes a few days. Whatever you think the college and the Environment Agency have both said 100s of thousands of litres of slurry entered the stream and that the Bevern and Plumpton Mill Stream are dead from the college to nearly the Ouse.
As you live near the College can you see over Wales Farm? If so did you notice the college spreading slurry on the fields above the Plumpton Mill Stream on Wednesday?
See the last two post by The Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust on their Facebook page for more information and photos on the incident. Link below.
Check it out here »
On 5 Dec 2016 at 2:16pm Penny Dobbinson wrote:
One potential solution would be to remove all cows from Plumpton Agricultural College. If those 'in charge' are seen not to be managing the local environment they should be held accountable for their actions.
On 5 Dec 2016 at 4:33pm River Boy wrote:
I think that is pretty much what local environmentalists are hoping for: removal of the Plumpton College dairy herd from Wales Farm. Either it should be relocated or sold off.
On 5 Dec 2016 at 5:27pm Helen wrote:
Muck spreading / slurry pumping is a regular thing on farms around here so very used to the smells. The smell I really object to is the treated human waste that gets used from time to time. Massive operation last spring taking loads of it to the top of the downs using track opposite the Half Moon.
On 5 Dec 2016 at 6:37pm Zebedee wrote:
Helen. If you do see any live (or indeed any dead) fish in the streams on the route the slurry took please could you let the Environment Agency know? They are asking for this sort of information.
Btw. The photos in the post on the OART Facebook page from Rachel Paget are of the slurry as it passed theough the Old Mill on Plumpton Lane. This can't be very far from where you live and walk so I think you were just unlucky (lucky?) to have missed it. As the can see the foaming, stinking mass is very obvious....
On 5 Dec 2016 at 7:19pm Helen wrote:
Hi Zebedee. Firstly, thank you for not dismissing my posts about this event. I still can't work out how it passed me by!!! The picture by Rachel is abundantly clear.
I walk the route on a very frequent basis and will of course take note of whatever I see.
On 6 Dec 2016 at 12:07pm Zebedee wrote:
Hi Helen,
as you can see if you click the link below, there are a number of Bevern Stream tributaries around Plumpton. I'm not sure if all of them are called the Plumpton Mill Stream but it seems to me that there is some hope that fish and invertebrates from these unaffected branches of the stream will migrate into the damaged sections and over years repopulate them.
Check it out here »