Countryside Alliance

THE COUNTRYSIDE FIGHTING FOR LIBERTY

 

N E W S   R E L E A SE

Countryside Alliance and ACA express concerns over possible FMD water pollution

The Anglers Conservation Association (ACA) and the Countryside Alliance have expressed ‘deep concern’ about the possible effects of Foot and Mouth on waterways. Their concern has been highlighted as MAFF officials exhume the carcasses of recently buried animals in County Durham due to official fears that they might be polluting a local water supply.

A joint statement issued by the Alliance and the ACA expresses grave concerns about the environmental impact that FMD is having. Bob James, Chairman of the Alliance’s Gone Fishing campaign said: “The ACA made clear its concerns about the impact of FMD some weeks ago in letters to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown and the Environment Agency. As yet, the letters remain unanswered. These concerns seem to have been ignored – but now it appears they are justified”. 

“We are not just concerned about contaminated body fluids leaking from the carcasses being buried in unlined pits in very sensitive areas. We are also concerned about the impact some of the disinfectants are having. After the 1967 outbreak, some waters took several years to recover. How long will it take this time? Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul? Will we lose fishing in an attempt to save farming? We need answers”.

Notes to Editors

  • The Anglers Conservation Association was set up in 1948 to fight for clean rivers. It has fought thousands of cases and lost only three. The ACA represents over 300,000 anglers.
  • The ACA wrote to Baroness Young (C.E. of the Environment Agency) and Nick Brown on 26th March and 2nd April.
  • There have been concerns since a tributary of a salmonid river on Anglesey was polluted with animal ‘body fluids’ leaking from dead animals awaiting disposal at the Mona Airfield. 
  • Unlined pits are being used both in Cumbria and Wales for mass burial, one being above an aquifer, the other in the ground above two important rivers: the River Usk (a Special Site of Scientific Interest or SSSI) and the River Towey (a Special Area of Conservation or SAC)
  • Body fluids and both OPs and SPs from buried sheep must surely pose a major threat to the aquatic environment.
  • Fishery surveys in Cheshire showed that it took rivers several years to recover after the 1967 outbreak.
  • There are now growing fears that BSE could be one of the problems entering our water supplies

 

 

For further information, please contact the Alliance Press Office on 020 7840 9220 or the ACA on 01189 714770

 

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