Hi all Adastrans The ecological disaster at Warnham Millpond occurred when the millpond sluice gate was opened (apparently prematurely), by Environment Agency personnel, and could not be closed again. This resulted in the Millpond being completely drained. Practically all the fish population and much of the surface layer of silt was swept downstream towards the River Arun. The ongoing works on the dam are being carried out by Bam Nuttall, as contractors, to the order of the Environment Agency and Horsham District Council. The contractor requested a 50cm drop in the water level to facilitate their work.
Both EA and HDC have been conducting 'damage limitation' exercises, in the media, stressing that there was no flooding danger to properties downstream. After such a catastrophic fish kill event, the procedure is apparently to count the corpses. In the first 200 yards from the sluicegate, I have heard that over a thousand dead or dying fish, both mature and fry, were counted. The casualties continued to be seen for the next mile and a half to the confluence of Boldings Brook with the River Arun and were 'too many to count'. A few fish were returned to the river, but it is likely that they would be suffocated with silt and would not survive. The impact on the Nature Reserve is enormous: The effect is not only on the fish: the entire food chain has been disrupted from the invertebrates and micro-organisms in the silt to those that feed on them. Even if the fish can eventually be re-stocked, there will be nothing for them to feed on. We will try to keep the group updated on developments, but at the moment, we are completely devastated. Neil Henry (Friends of Warnham Local Nature Reserve)
