No oil found

Environment Agency officers were unable to find any trace of oil during their checks.

Minor impact only

The incident was assessed as having minor impact and no effect on Gorleston beach. Because of this, the Agency did not even bother reporting the matter to Rupert Lowe – Great Yarmouth MP‘s office or the council.

So, as often seems to be the case, it was once again misleading media articles, and social media pages, producing hype and hysteria over a situation that, in practice, had already been determined to be a non issue before the article and posts had even been publicised.

– Environment Agency –

“We appreciate that reports of pollution in or near the river are concerning for residents and visitors. Protecting our rivers and coastline is a priority, and we take every report of potential pollution seriously.

We first received a report on 27 June of oil on the River Yare, near Williamsons Lookout on Riverside Road. An Environment Agency officer attended the site within two hours of the report being received. By the time they arrived, there was no visible sign of oil on the river.

We received one further report at the same location on 6 July.

As the oil may have been entering the river through the surface water drainage system, we asked Anglian Water to investigate. Their attendance on site found no evidence of oil in the surface water network, and no oil was visible on the river when they attended.

We are continuing to work with the Port Authority to identify the source, including the possibility that it came from a vessel operating in the area.

The reporter has since provided photographs showing a thin, iridescent oil sheen on the water. Based on the information available, the pollution appears to be intermittent rather than continuous.

At this location, the River Yare is a large tidal river, so any oil present disperses quickly and spreads very thinly across the water surface.

Based on our current assessment, there are no ongoing implications to public safety, and we expect the environmental impact to be limited. As a precaution, advice against swimming was issued for Gorleston Beach on 6 July while we assessed the potential risk. Our investigations found no impact on the beach itself, and the advice was removed the following morning.

We recognise that the local media article and the precautionary swimming advice may have increased concern about a possible marine spill. Based on the information available to us, this was a small, intermittent incident within the river rather than a wider marine spill.

We and our partners have checked the river and surface water network; we have not identified oil in the surface water network or on Gorleston Beach; and our current assessment is that the environmental impact is limited, with no ongoing bathing advice in place. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with our partners to identify the source of the pollution and take any appropriate action.

We did not contact your office at the time because our initial assessment was that the incident had a minor environmental impact and did not affect the beach. However, we recognise that the local media coverage and precautionary swimming advice raised wider public concern. In hindsight, it would have been helpful to provide your office with an update, and I am sorry that we did not do so. We will endeavour to contact your office about a serious pollution incident.”