{"id":1138127,"date":"2026-08-08T16:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1138127\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:43:16","slug":"the-norfolk-city-that-shows-the-increasing-environmental-impact-of-the-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1138127\/","title":{"rendered":"The Norfolk city that shows the increasing environmental impact of the drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of dead fish<\/a> washed up on banks of the River Wensum in Norwich<\/a> last weekend, one of a rising number of mass fish kills being recorded due to this year\u2019s record-breaking the drought<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photos taken around the city centre last weekend show the banks of the Wensum littered with dead fish.<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 dead fish were collected from the river by council and water company staff, however the total number dead is likely to be much higher. <\/p>\n

Locals warn the situation could happen again due to the low flows in the river and pressures from pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It comes as the Environment Agency (EA)<\/a> warns it is dealing with a rapidly rising number of mass kill incidents due to the drought. The regulator has recorded 159 such cases so far this year.<\/p>\n

Thousands of fish dead in Norwich<\/p>\n

This summer<\/a> the water levels have dropped exceptionally low as England experienced its driest July on record, as well as a succession of heatwaves<\/a>. Half of England is now in drought with millions under hosepipe bans.<\/p>\n

The River Wensum is a rare chalk stream and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, however, it is suffering due to sewage pollution and abstraction for drinking water, amongst other issues.<\/p>\n

Sewage<\/a> was discharged into the Wensum and a connecting watercourse following a short burst of rain last weekend. Shortly after locals began noticing dead fish washing up on the river banks.<\/p>\n

The rain also washed pollutants from the road, such as oil and debris, being washed into the river. <\/p>\n

\"\"The fish kill happened at a time when river levels were exceptionally low, though the Wensum also suffers from sewage pollution and drinking water abstraction <\/p>\n

The EA and Anglian Water are still investigating the incident and have said they believe the dry weather is the primary factor.<\/p>\n

However, members of Wensum Riverkin, a group campaigning to protect the river, believe pollution is also likely to have played a part.<\/p>\n

\u201cPollution in some shape or form, whether clogged and stagnant surface drains, sewage storm overflows, or both, was obviously a prime suspect in triggering this, even if the lethally low oxygen levels were considered the final killer,\u201d said Tim Ellis, a member of the group. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe city of Norwich depends on a healthy, strongly flowing upper Wensum to keep its rivers in a decent state.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said: \u201cThe fish deaths have been linked to low dissolved oxygen levels in the river following a prolonged period of hot, dry weather and recent heavy rainfall. The Environment Agency is treating this as a wider weather-related environmental event rather than an Anglian Water pollution incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Duckweed, as pictured in the Wensum above, is usually a sign a river is in ecological stress <\/p>\n

Over 130 environmental incidents\u00a0<\/p>\n

A total of 134 drought-related environmental incidents have been recorded by the EA in waterways so far this year, the regulator told The i Paper.<\/p>\n

As well as fish kill incidents, this figure also includes algal blooms in areas including East Anglia, Wessex, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Cumbria and Lancashire and Hertfordshire and north London.<\/p>\n

Algal blooms occur in warm temperatures when there is an excess of nutrients in the water, for example through sewage or agricultural pollution.<\/p>\n

They deprive aquatic life of oxygen and sometimes can be toxic, meaning they are unsafe for humans and pets. <\/p>\n

The total number of dry weather-related environment incidents (134) is lower than the same time last year (184), when large swathes of the country were also in the grips of drought.<\/p>\n

However, the figure is far higher than in 2024 when just 12 such events were recorded.<\/p>\n

It comes as parts of the UK brace for their another heatwave with temperatures as high as 36\u00b0C forecast in central and south-east England next week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpacts of extreme heat such as rising water temperatures can damage river ecosystems and this year\u2019s drought is putting tremendous stress on local fish populations,\u201d a spokesperson for the EA warned. <\/p>\n

The long-term forecast remains dry across southern England as the UK\u2019s water supply continues to dwindle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of dead fish washed up on banks of the River Wensum in Norwich last weekend, one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1138128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3843],"tags":[46000,728,10810,10654,2957,94476,70,94477,16,15],"class_list":["post-1138127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-drought","tag-environment","tag-fish","tag-hot-weather","tag-norwich","tag-save-britains-rivers","tag-science","tag-sewage","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117060897025822614","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1138128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}