It is believed that about half of the 70,000 square metres of marshland has been affected. It has had a significant impact on a newly-designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, which adjoins a national nature reserve, which is also an European Commisson designated Special Protected Area. Our only option is to dilute with sea water. It was as acidic as you can get. A prohibition notice was served Thursday afternoon by Agency officers against the company prohibiting the use of a particular pipeline for processed effluent and requiring the monitoring of discharge from surface water drains.
Hydrochloric acid is believed to have leaked into a stormwater drain and onto the marshland.
The remains of invertebrates killed as hydrochloric acid poured into protected marsh are still floating to the surface of the bog. The company has been pumping and flushing the affected areas with sea water and Environment Protection Officers have taken samples for laboratory analysis. Continuous flushing out of the contaminated chain of pools and ditches with sea water, using pumps, has reduced the acid levels from a toxic pH1 to a level of pH 3.5. The Environment Agency says the pumping operation, paid for by Tioxide, will continue until levels have reached a neutral pH6 or 7. It apparently took the company nearly two months to discover there was a problem - but it did not report the leak to the Environment Agency for another two days after discovery.