Environment

Oil slick strikes river in Sussex, England

by Amy Judd | February 19, 2009 at 09:43 am

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A local oil slick has struck a river in Sussex, England. It has spilled into the River Ouse and has spread for six miles between the towns of Newick and Maresfield.

The Environmental Agency are on the scene at the moment and they will monitor the slick for the next few weeks, but due to their quick response they are saying the environmental impact will be greatly reduced.

No dead fish or other river life had been discovered by last night.

The agency will be staying on the site to try and minimise the damage and are still trying to find the source of the spill.

In terms of the bigger Russian oil slick that spilled last Saturday, it is still thought that the Welsh coastline will be safe from the oil slick as the oil in that area has begun to break up naturally. It has been found that the slick is only half the size of what was originally thought, but even so, some oil may still be washed ashore, but the damage is not expected to be great.

Seabirds are the only concern at the moment, as they have more interaction with the land and the sea than anything else at the moment.

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dowdinsk

at 10:15 on February 19th, 2009

Amy, the argus.co.uk article you source is reporting this as pollution from central heating oil on a six mile stretch of the Sussex Ouse between Newick and Maresfield which are some way inland from the Sussex coast. This is all a very long way from the slick originating from the Russian naval fleet off the Fastnet.