To receive an update from the Service Manager – Greenspace on the Ivel Springs.
Decision:
A verbal presentation was given by Service Manager – Greenspace regarding the works at Ivel Springs.
Minutes:
Audio Recording – 6 minutes 52 seconds
A verbal presentation was given by Andrew Mills, Service Manager – Greenspace, regarding the works at Ivel Springs, which included:
· The boardwalk was due to be replaced by the end of October 2021, dependant on weather conditions, and would be replaced with recycled plastic. The replacement work would be done by volunteers.
· The recent sewage leaks on the site had been caused by a crack in a pipe 5 metres deep. Anglian Water were relining old pipes, rather than completely replacing.
· Andrew Mills would be meeting Anglian Water on site on the 5 October 2021.
· The two issues with sewage leakage on the site have led to a better working relationship between NHDC and Anglian Water.
· Updates on the water augmentation at the site, with the hope that boreholes would soon be drilled to pump out chalk water and deliver it away from the Springs.
The following Members and members of the public asked questions and took part in the debate:
· Councillor Michael Muir
· Councillor Tom Tyson
· Councillor Jim McNally
· Councillor Michael Weeks
· Lisa Patterson
Andrew Mills, Service Manager – Greenspace, advised:
· Feasibility studies were currently underway to look into the drilling of boreholes, with two options currently being considered. There was a desire to see this move as quickly as possible.
· Some ‘misconnections’ of pipes had led to areas seeing sewage leaks and previous works had seen water channels to draw this away.
· Anglian Water were primarily responsible for dealing with the issues arriving from misconnections, however they are not proactive in chasing the source of any issues. Rather they will manage the consequences of any sewage leakages.
· Council Officers are on site regularly and will pick up, and deal with, any issues and make sure relevant bodies are alerted to conduct works.
· Previous leaks have been paid for by Anglian Water.
· Where boreholes have been drilled before on the site, there have been no reported instances of pollution.
· The issue was currently being contained and the legal obligations were being met. Should this change and the impact of the misconnections increase then further actions will be taken.
· Environment Agency have been clear that the volume of extraction will not be increased. Affinity Water will need to find alternative ways to ensure water supply to Baldock, such as running initiatives to encourage reductions in household water usage or bringing water in from Grafham Water.
· Reedbeds were managed by NHDC and annual cutting took place. Further planting could be looked at in the next Greenspace Action Plan for the site.
· Herts County Council Rights of Way were looking at improvements which could be made to footpaths on site.
Councillor Steve Jarvis, Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, advised:
· There was not an understanding of how widespread contamination issues from misconnections was, but this would need to be looked into and circulated to Members when available.
· Possibility of the respringing of Ivel Springs causing the sewage misconnection to worsen would need to be discussed with the contractors at Anglian water. As a consequence of previous issues, the Council had a good working relationship with Affinity and Anglian Water.
· It may be worth inviting Affinity Water to a Committee Meeting so they can explain their plans and asked questions directly.
· In the case of bringing water from Grafham Water, a water treatment plant would be built to ensure issues which had previously occurred from this would not happen again.