Pollution

[carni 10,094]

I have just remembered a horrible sight in the river Trent,while walking at Stoke Bardolph some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s,The river was full of dead fish floating,I can remember the the fish ,but can't remember the cause or the date or how much of the Trent Fish were lost.Does anyone remember this,there must be some fishermen out there who would remember,It was quite devastating at the time,i often think about it,as it was such an awful sight.

[radfordred 6,284]

Before my time,but i'm hooked!

[mick2me 3,033]

I remember when I first came to Nottingham in the early 60s, the Trent had a particular chemical smell which I can still remember to this day.

[carni 10,094]

I do remember the chemical smell,but i can't remember any details about the dead fish,someone will i'm sure,i'm even more intrigued now. Hope i didn't dream it. LOL

[MELTONSTILTON 452]

There is a huge sewage works in that area, was it there in the 1950/60s, it is the only thing in the area I can think of that may have caused the Pollution, or farming is another possibility.... But I am only guessing

[carni 10,094]

I have just done a bit of research on Water World today,and there is a story taken from The Independent,5th July 1993 Uk,with exactly the same kind of story,at the same place,but there is no mention of it happening at an earlier date,I will interrogate my brothers in law tomorrow and see what they come up with. unless some one recalls it tonight.

[Beefsteak 305]

Sadly it's been an all regular occurrence over the years. I obviously (Not old enough) don't remember your particular episode but I recall at least three others, the most recent being in around 1999. I bought a mate over from here to fish Gunthorpe weir and we didn't get a bite between us all day. I later found out there had a chemical spillage in Colwick which wiped out millions of fish, as far down stream as Newark.

As for the sewage farm causing problems , I know it sounds cliched , but the water that comes out there is near enough clean enough to drink. (I wouldn't want to try it though) I worked at the one in Radcliffe on Trent for a few months in the 80s and that is what we were told then (Still had to carry cards that said we'd been working with raw sewage and showing us the symptoms on Leptospirosis).

When it comes over the top of the third and final settlement chamber it looks clear and the water on that tank/chamber has pond weed growing on it !!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

A lot of sewage works now send the cleaned water back to a further treatment plant for reuse in the city water system in many countries now...And lots of cities draw their water from rivers where upstream are loads of waste water treatment plants.....

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Stoke Bardolph treatment works opened its doors or should that be valves to sewage on 17th June 1880. Now it is the seventh largest works of its kind in the country.

It has long treated all kinds of effluent from raw sewage to chemical products. The discharge to the Trent is just down stream of the Ferry Boat and as kids dad always made sure we swam up stream of the pub.

Used to be good for tomatoes, the human body cannot digest this and they used to grow along the banks of the discharge stream.

Colin

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Beefsteak that discharge may be clean now, but I can remember in the late 50s when we had a high water level the farm tanks could overflow and you would often see a turd floating down stream.

Did you know most of the land around there belongs to Severn Trent and they use most of the sludge produced to fertilize the farm land, the residue being sold to other farmers for the same purpose.

As an aside you will always know when they have used sludge as a fertilizer its light grey in colour and stinks to high heaven. The down wind stink from Stoke is not the treatment works itself but when they have been spreading said sludge.

Colin

[Beefsteak 305]

Just looked on g ooogle earth and there are now 8 final settlement chambers, and yes , the final one does have what appears to be pond weed on it !

The eight 'squares at the bottom are what the water passes through before finally draining off and into the brook that is in the hedgerow at the bottom of the picture

The darker green more 'lush' looking area on the left of the sewage farm (Not the joint in the picture) is where the remains are spread, hence more lushness in the soil

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

And it's an odd smell too Colin, nothing like it's original smell...LOL I recall it being spread on fields along the Gotham/East Leake road when I worked at BG's East Leake plant..

I don't think treated sewage is allowed to be used over here stateside.

[Beefsteak 305]

Great minds thinking alike there Basford lad. As you can see on my pic the area to the left is where they spread most of their 'solid remains'

When we were there it was for leveling all the chambers, as subsidence from mine workings in the area was causing raw poo to get back into the Trent !

One day , when we were running on half the system we had this almighty storm, the arms on the one working spreader were going round like a helicopter !!

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

BS I would check your map co-ordinates that pic is Radcliffe on Trent works, Stoke is a far larger operation.

Colin

[Beefsteak 305]

Yes I know it is.

There's a massive clue in post #7 when i said I'd worked there !!

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

I thought we were talking about Stoke didn't notice you'd changed the subject.

[Beefsteak 305]

Nobody has changed the subject. It was started on the subject of pollution !!!

[carni 10,094]

Going back to #8,i have now interrogated my Bro in law at Gedling and he says the particular incident i remember was probably in the 1970s,as that is when he got into fishing,he recalls how bad it was, and reckons it was never clear what the problem was,but talk of the sewage works was rife,tho never confirmed.

[mick2me 3,033]

Kev 'Falcon' also worked @ Stoke Bardolph, Early 80s.

Bogger, I cant remember his last name?

You must remember him Ian?

[taxi ray 170]

I never knew there was a sewage works at Radcliffe on Trent.

[Trickymicky 57]

I worked from Radcliffe on Trent sewage works from 1982, and remember the work Beefsteak was involved in. We were Maintenance Fitters and had a little workshop there.

[Beefsteak 305]

Bloody hell , small world or what !!

Did you work for Severn Trent or the firm I worked for in Colwick?, I can't remember their name now, it was two names and one of them began with a C I think
From what I remember there were two blokes who worked there one tall with grey hair and one shorter with dark hair. They both wore grey overalls immsc.

I remember sheltering in that hut down by the settlement chambers when we had that 'cloudburst'.

[Trickymicky 57]

The men you remember were permanently on the site. There were 3 fitters and one electrician who worked from there,We used to park the vans there overnight, and were often out during the day unless there was anything to do in the workshop, so you may not have noticed us.

I'll be trying to think of the name of the contractors all day now..

[Beefsteak 305]

It was something like "Ellis and Everards" but I know it wasn't them as they're a chemical company.!