Fish killed by drained water

WATER draining into the Staffs & Worcs Canal from dousing a fire caused hundreds of fish to die.

A major fire broke out at the Lawrence Recycling in Kidderminster, with many appliances used to control it, but the water draining into the canal was contaminated, lowering the oxygen levels dramatically, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Raising oxygen levels

The result was that pumps were brought in by the Canal & River Trust to supply the waterway with fresh water, thus raising the oxygen levels to save further fish deaths.

It seems that organic material, that breaks down in water using oxygen was the problem, with a great amount being washed into the canal from the many appliances that were used to douse the fire.

Many of the remaining fish in the pound were netted and released in a pound further up the waterway.