Stourbridge Canal to reopen one week after sewage leak despite 'selfish and ignorant' act near Kinver
The Stourbridge Canal is set to reopen one week after a burst pipe left the area exposed to large amounts of raw sewage.
However, despite the positive developments, clean up teams have been left frustrated by a 'selfish and ignorant' act that threatened to delay proceedings, as unknown members of the public stole and let off fire extinguishers into the canal in the Devil's Den area near Kinver, affecting a small area of the waterway.
The Stourbridge Canal was originally shut on Tuesday, March 3 after pollution was discovered entering the canal from a broken pipe near Wordsley Basin, prompting environmental concerns and a rapid clean-up operation. The incident, which is believed to have killed around 100 fish in the canal, led to the temporary suspension of boat traffic and restrictions on parts of the towpath while engineers and environmental teams worked to contain and remove the pollution.
Repair crews moved quickly to isolate the source of the spill, install temporary barriers, and begin pumping contaminated water from affected stretches of the canal. Representatives from Severn Trent Water, the Canal and River Trust and the Environment Agency carried out water-quality tests throughout the week to ensure conditions were safe before the canal was reopened, and the final checks at Monday, March 9 lunchtime resulted in positive news.
