ALTON'S river escaped serious pollution this week after raw sewage was sent spewing into the Mill Lane reach, raising fears for the well being of fish and other aquatic wildlife. A fractured underground sewer pipe on the old Hampshire Commercials site was found on Monday to be pumping sewage out onto the land, to run into the storm drain system and under the road into the River Wey. The leak was discovered by members of the Oakhanger Angling Club, which holds a 20- year lease on Bakers Mill Pool, which forms part of the River Wey as it runs out of the Mill Lane industrial estate (opposite Hampshire Commercials) and towards Holybourne. A problem which could have resulted from pressure exerted by a heavy vehicle, the pipe transports sewage from the Holybourne pumping station to the Alton treatment works, located on the estate. Alerted at first by what he described as a "disgusting" smell emanating from the river, Oakhanger Angling Club fishery management officer Alec Baker followed his nose to the point where raw sewage was pumping out into the Wey and traced the source back to the fractured main. He immediately contacted the Environment Agency who in turn alerted Thames Water to the crisis. This was at about 3 pm the same afternoon and Mr Baker was impressed by the speed with which Thames Water swung into action. "By around 4-30 pm Thames Water had an emergency pipe crew on site and they had taken water and sewage samples for analysis," said Mr Baker who was staggered by the force with which sewage was being pumped out of the fractured main, activated by the machinations of the Holybourne pumping station. Speaking to The Herald on Wednesday morning, a spokesman for Thames Water said that the company did not know as yet how or why the sewer had fractured and that tests were being carried out on site, including the removal of a section of pipe for analysis and the use of internal CCTV cameras to determine the extent of the damage. He continued: "We don't think there has been any significant environmental damage caused by the leakage. We found out about the problem from the Environment Agency and immediately turned off the pumps at Holybourne station and sent staff to the site of the broken sewer." Work to repair the damaged pipe was expected to take some time due to a concentration of other underground services using the same route of passage. On Tuesday an electricity cable had already been accidentally severed, plunging surrounding business premises into darkness. In the meantime, the pumps had been turned off at the Holybourne pumping station and raw sewage was being transported to the Alton sewage treatment works by tanker. "There has been no effect on customers at this point," assured the spokesman. It was a statement borne out by the Environment Agency, which confirmed that the "swift action by Thames Water had ensured minimal pollution with little impact on the river save the short-term effect of colour and smell". And while tankers were transporting effluent from Holybourne to Alton by road, there had been no effect on customer service. Pollution is always a big worry for people such as the Oakhanger anglers who, over the past few years, have stocked Bakers Mill Pool with trench, bream, rudd, roach and carp. However, while his club is insured against pollution under the umbrella of the National Federation of Angling Clubs, he felt it unlikely they would have to call on this service as the fish appeared to have avoided the pollution by swimming upstream into clear water. He was more concerned about fish downstream of the leakage, which would include indigenous river trout. Bentley Fly Fishers chairman Bill Stanford said that his organisation, too, seemed to have escaped disaster. He told The Herald on Tuesday afternoon: "We would have expected to find dead fish floating on the surface but fortunately that has not been the case" Mr Stanford puts his club's good luck down to Tuesday's heavy rain which he believed had helped to save the day by diluting any river pollution.
