News reaches us that Southern Water’s Fairlee sewage pumping station suffered a failure overnight.
The Environment Agency have staff from the Isle of Wight on the scene along with staff being shipped over from the mainland to assess the environmental impact of the three-pump failure.
We’ll let you have more info once we receive it.
Update 10.33:
A Southern Water spokesman said: “We have had teams working round the clock to clear blocked pumps at our Fairlee pumping station which is now back on-line.
“The problem happened yesterday after the pumping station was taken off-line for a short period of time to allow work to be carried out on a main sewer.
“When the site was switched back on, the pumps became blocked with a build-up of non-biodegradable items such as sanitary products and cleaning wipes and failed to start.
“This meant some flows had to be released to the environment through three long sea outfalls and a fourth point in the River Medina.
“This emergency measure was taken to protect the site and homes in the area from flooding and the Environment Agency was informed.
“We will now look carefully at this incident to see what can be done to reduce the risk of it happening again.”
Update 10.50
This in from the Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is working closely with Southern Water to minimise the risk of pollution affecting the River Medina on the Isle of Wight.
All three pumps at the water company’s Fairlee pumping station were reported to have failed in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday, April 3) and as a result sewage has been discharged into the river. At least three other pumping stations are affected and may have been discharging sewage to the environment. We have been told by Southern Water that two of the pumps have been repaired at 8.30am and the discharge has stopped. We are currently verifying this.
The situation is being monitored and Environment Agency officers have been working tirelessly to reduce the impact on the environment. Specialist pollution response equipment has been deployed to the Island. This emergency response will continue throughout today to further ensure that any impacts on the watercourse are limited. An investigation has been started and we are collecting evidence.
Fairlee is one of the largest pumping stations on the Isle of Wight, taking sewage from the West of the island and sending it to Sandown Waste Water Treatment Works, which has a total catchment of 136,000 properties.
Mike O’Neill of the Environment Agency said: “Environment Agency officers have been working around the clock to minimise any impact this incident has on the environment and to bring the situation under control as quickly as possible.
“We will remain onsite to ensure that all action is taken to prevent any further risk of harm to the river and will oversee the clean-up operation. A full investigation into the incident is currently underway as well as all efforts being focussed on reducing the risk of pollution to the river.”
Members of the public can report pollution incidents by calling the Environment Agency’s emergency hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Update 15.14
A Southern Water spokesman said: “At 1.50pm today our team at Fairlee succeeded in stopping the emergency wastewater release to the River Medina.
“Both this release and the three through the long sea outfalls, which are up to 1.1km long, were screened to remove solids and so only allowed liquids to pass through.
“This emergency measure was taken to protect the site and homes in the area from flooding.”
