Waste blights wildlife site stream, say residents

A group of residents in Sheffield have said their local green space is being ruined by dirty discoloured water and waste in a stream.

Sheffield Lane Dike, which runs through the Tongue Gutter wildlife site in Parson Cross, is managed by Yorkshire Water.

Mandy Beer, who lives nearby, said the stream had an "awful smell, like toilets flushing and washing machines emptying", and contained "thousands of baby wipes".

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said its teams had "identified a number of nearby properties where bathrooms, washing machines and sinks are plumbed into the surface water sewer incorrectly" and was contacting affected residents so the issue could be fixed.

Beer, 62, who said she had grown up in Parson Cross and used to play in the wooded area as a child, said the area used to be "tremendous".

"We had everything from deer, even shrimps in the water, it's a beautiful place to live."

But she said she noticed five years ago that dirty water was regularly flowing out from a storm overflow outlet near the entrance of the site.

"We saw the outlet was spewing out some sort of waste," she said.

"Now we see sanitary towels, tampons and thousands upon thousands of baby wipes."

To prevent flooding, water companies sometimes use storm overflows to release extra rainwater and wastewater into rivers or seas when the sewerage system is at risk of being overwhelmed, such as during heavy downpours.

The concern for Beer and other residents is how frequently the waste is seemingly released into the dyke and who is taking responsibility for "cleaning up" afterwards.

"It's there rain or shine, in the middle of summer and in winter," said Beer.

"Nobody is cleaning up the mess."

A grate further downstream catches large items released from another storm overflow.

Over the years local volunteer Christine King, 70, has dubbed the grate "Wet Wipe Wall".

King started volunteering to help clear the woodlands in 2020 after ongoing problems with fly-tipping.

"We've dragged every household item out of the water including gas bottles, sofas and TVs but we can't control the stream itself." she said.

"There's grey mucky stuff which seems to be a sewerage fungus.

"Something has gone wrong. It shouldn't be here. We think it's kitchen water and detergent.

"There will be no river flies which are really important for the food web because it's coating all the rocks. It's really bad for the wildlife."

Malcolm Hill, 71, moved to Parson Cross in retirement and has lived in a bungalow backing on to the woodland for eight years.

He said: "Ordinarily, it used to be a lovely place to do my exercise, and get fresh air, but now if I sit in my backyard and have a cup of coffee, I get this horrible stench and not only do I smell it, it goes into the back of my throat."

Hill has only recently ventured down to the stream for the first time since last summer.

"I've just seen the nappies and the toilet roll and God knows what's floating on top.

"It's actually bubbling down here, something's not right."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, a Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "Our teams have been on site at Tongue Gutter for the last 24 hours investigating suspected misconnections into a surface water sewer.

"We have identified a number of nearby properties where bathrooms, washing machines and sinks are plumbed into the surface water sewer incorrectly, which is depositing waste into the watercourse.

"We will now make contact with all properties where a misconnection has been identified, asking them to take action to rectify the drainage issues to prevent pollution of Tongue Gutter. We'd like to thank local residents for bringing this to our attention."

The firm had earlier said that the Deerlands combined storm overflow had discharged following heavy rainfall on 26 June and the screening grate had "operated as it should by stopping wet wipes and other detritus from going into the water course".

"While the screen is doing its job, it can look untidy and our operational teams were on site later in the day to remove any residue," a spokesperson said.

"We'll be keeping a close eye on it during future heavy rain spells to keep it as clean as possible."

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